Eastern Pacific Hurricane Season Sees Record July After Slow Start to the Season

Chris Dolce
Published: July 26,2016

After a record slow start, the eastern Pacific tied a new July record in 2016 by spawning seven tropical storms.
(MORE: Hurricane Central)
The record for the most tropical storms in July was tied with the formation of Tropical Storm Georgette on July 22, becoming a hurricane the following evening.
According to Eric Blake, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center, 1985 previously exclusively held that record with seven total named eastern Pacific storms.
Agatha's formation July 2 was the latest first tropical storm in the eastern Pacific, since reliable records began in 1971. Since that occurred, the basin has gone into overdrive with the development of Blas, Celia, Darby, and Estelle in a span of about two weeks.
When Tropical Storm Estelle was named July 15, it set a new record for the most eastern Pacific tropical storms to form in the first half of July.
On average, the eastern Pacific sees its fifth named storm by July 22, so the basin has been playing "catch-up" as of late.
This was then followed by hurricanes Frank and Georgette.
When Frank developed into a hurricane on July 26, it became the fifth hurricane for the month of July and the 2016 hurricane season. Five previous years recorded four hurricanes in the month of July, but no other hurricane seasons have recorded five hurricanes. Thus Frank broke the record for most hurricanes in July, a record dating back to 1971. Frankly an astonishing record for just one month!

The tracks of Agatha, Blas, Celia, Darby, Estelle, Frank, and Georgette July 1-26, 2016.

As the map illustrates, most of the storms this month have all traveled along generally the same path geographically, moving west-northwest away from Mexico.
Only Darby impacted directly any land areas, bringing heavy rain, flooding and some higher wind gusts to Hawaii.
Frank brought large swells to parts of western Mexico.
(MORE: Darby Swamps Hawaii Roads; Dozens Rescued)

Satellite image of Hurricane Blas on July 6 when it was a Category 3. (Credit: NASA)

The strongest hurricane so far in the eastern Pacific this month was Blas. On July 5, Blas reached Category 4 strength with winds estimated to be 140 mph.
With Georgette becoming a Category 4 hurricane on July 24, the standing July record of four eastern Pacific hurricanes was also tied.

MORE: Hurricane Eyes