Hurricane Patricia (1970)

Hurricane Patricia reached Category 2 in the Eastern Pacific between October 4, 1970 and October 11, 1970, with a lowest pressure of 972 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Patricia, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1970 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin: Eastern Pacific
Dates: October 4, 1970 to October 11, 1970
Peak strength: Category 2, 95 kt (109 mph)
Lowest pressure: 972 mb (28.70 inHg)
Landfall: No; closest approach 362 km (225 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy: 15.3
Fastest the center moved: 16 kt (18 mph)
Identifier: EP161970

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads publishes a machine-readable casualty or damage figure for a storm of this era. The National Hurricane Center’s season tables begin in 1995 and carry deaths and damage only from 2005 in the Atlantic and 2020 in both basins; the US Storm Events record begins in 1996.

Track

Time (UTC)	Position	Wind	Pressure	Status
Oct 4, 00:00	12.1N 95.4W	25 kt		Tropical depression
Oct 4, 06:00	12.3N 96.5W	25 kt		Tropical depression
Oct 4, 12:00	12.4N 97.7W	25 kt		Tropical depression
Oct 4, 18:00	12.5N 99.0W	45 kt		Tropical storm
Oct 5, 00:00	12.6N 100.4W	45 kt		Tropical storm
Oct 5, 06:00	12.6N 101.7W	45 kt		Tropical storm
Oct 5, 12:00	12.7N 102.9W	45 kt		Tropical storm
Oct 5, 18:00	12.9N 104.2W	75 kt		Hurricane
Oct 6, 00:00	13.2N 105.5W	75 kt		Hurricane
Oct 6, 06:00	13.6N 107.0W	75 kt		Hurricane
Oct 6, 12:00	14.0N 108.4W	75 kt		Hurricane
Oct 6, 18:00	14.5N 109.9W	90 kt	979 mb	Hurricane
Oct 7, 00:00	14.9N 111.5W	90 kt		Hurricane
Oct 7, 06:00	15.3N 112.9W	90 kt		Hurricane
Oct 7, 12:00	15.6N 114.3W	90 kt		Hurricane
Oct 7, 18:00	15.8N 115.5W	90 kt	976 mb	Hurricane
Oct 8, 00:00	16.0N 116.7W	90 kt		Hurricane
Oct 8, 06:00	16.2N 118.0W	90 kt		Hurricane
Oct 8, 12:00	16.4N 119.4W	90 kt		Hurricane
Oct 8, 18:00	16.6N 120.6W	95 kt	972 mb	Hurricane
Oct 9, 00:00	16.7N 121.8W	95 kt		Hurricane
Oct 9, 06:00	16.9N 122.9W	95 kt		Hurricane
Oct 9, 12:00	17.3N 123.9W	95 kt		Hurricane
Oct 9, 18:00	18.0N 124.8W	95 kt	980 mb	Hurricane
Oct 10, 00:00	18.6N 125.8W	60 kt		Tropical storm
Oct 10, 06:00	18.8N 126.7W	55 kt		Tropical storm
Oct 10, 12:00	18.8N 127.7W	50 kt		Tropical storm
Oct 10, 18:00	18.7N 128.3W	45 kt		Tropical storm
Oct 11, 00:00	18.6N 129.0W	35 kt		Tropical storm
Oct 11, 06:00	18.6N 129.6W	30 kt		Tropical depression
Oct 11, 12:00	18.7N 130.1W	25 kt		Tropical depression

Other Eastern Pacific storms of 1970

What this means

A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.

Sources

Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.

The National Hurricane Center has published no tropical cyclone report for this storm.