The 1981 season

Hurricane Hilary (1981)

Hurricane Hilary reached Category 1 in the Eastern Pacific between August 21, 1981 and August 28, 1981.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Hilary, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1981 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

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The storm

Basin
Eastern Pacific
Dates
August 21, 1981 to August 28, 1981
Peak strength
Category 1, 75 kt (86 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 323 km (201 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
5.9
Fastest the center moved
15 kt (17 mph)
Identifier
EP081981

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)PositionWindPressureStatus
Aug 21, 18:0017.5N 107.5W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 22, 00:0018.2N 108.0W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 06:0018.7N 108.6W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 12:0019.3N 109.1W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 18:0019.7N 109.8W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 00:0019.8N 110.0W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 06:0019.8N 110.1W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 12:0019.8N 110.2W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 18:0019.8N 110.3W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 24, 00:0019.7N 110.5W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 24, 06:0019.7N 111.0W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 24, 12:0019.7N 111.6W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 24, 18:0019.8N 112.4W55 ktTropical storm
Aug 25, 00:0020.0N 113.5W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 25, 06:0020.3N 114.7W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 25, 12:0020.7N 115.8W70 ktHurricane
Aug 25, 18:0021.0N 117.1W75 ktHurricane
Aug 26, 00:0021.4N 118.7W75 ktHurricane
Aug 26, 06:0021.7N 120.2W70 ktHurricane
Aug 26, 12:0021.8N 121.5W65 ktHurricane
Aug 26, 18:0021.7N 122.7W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 00:0021.6N 123.3W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 06:0021.4N 124.1W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 12:0021.2N 125.1W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 18:0021.0N 126.3W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 28, 00:0020.7N 127.3W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 28, 06:0020.5N 128.2W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 28, 12:0020.4N 129.1W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 28, 18:0020.2N 130.0W25 ktTropical depression

Other Eastern Pacific storms of 1981

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.