Hurricane Waldo (1985)

Hurricane Waldo reached Category 2 in the Eastern Pacific between October 7, 1985 and October 9, 1985, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Waldo, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1985 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 7, 1985 to October 9, 1985
Peak strength: Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Landfall: Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy: 3.4
Fastest the center moved: 18 kt (21 mph)
Identifier: EP211985

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.

Rainfall

The Weather Prediction Center attributes 1,585 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 6.66 inches (169 mm).

Station	Total	Position
HOBBS	6.66 in (169 mm)	32.73N 103.13W
POLO	6.63 in (168 mm)	39.53N 94.03W
COLOMA	6.31 in (160 mm)	39.53N 93.52W
HIGGINS 1N	6.27 in (159 mm)	36.13N 100.02W
LAMESA 1 SSE	6.26 in (159 mm)	32.72N 101.95W
CANADIAN	6.20 in (157 mm)	35.92N 100.38W
HOLT 3 E	6.02 in (153 mm)	39.47N 94.32W
MIAMI	5.92 in (150 mm)	35.70N 100.65W
MATFIELD GREEN 2 N	5.86 in (149 mm)	38.18N 96.57W
FORT SUPPLY 3 SE	5.80 in (147 mm)	36.55N 99.53W
GAGE AIRPORT	5.69 in (145 mm)	36.30N 99.77W
BURNS	5.45 in (138 mm)	38.10N 96.88W

WPC’s storm rainfall file, 1900 to 2020, compiled by David Roth.

Track

Time (UTC)	Position	Wind	Status
Oct 7, 00:00	15.0N 106.1W	25 kt	Tropical depression
Oct 7, 06:00	15.8N 107.3W	30 kt	Tropical depression
Oct 7, 12:00	16.8N 108.1W	35 kt	Tropical storm
Oct 7, 18:00	17.6N 108.8W	45 kt	Tropical storm
Oct 8, 00:00	18.5N 109.3W	50 kt	Tropical storm
Oct 8, 06:00	19.5N 109.6W	60 kt	Tropical storm
Oct 8, 12:00	20.5N 109.7W	65 kt	Hurricane
Oct 8, 18:00	21.2N 109.7W	75 kt	Hurricane
Oct 9, 00:00	22.1N 109.3W	80 kt	Hurricane
Oct 9, 06:00	23.1N 108.3W	90 kt	Hurricane
Oct 9, 12:00	24.5N 107.1W	65 kt	Extratropical

Other Eastern Pacific storms of 1985

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.

Wikipedia article: Hurricane Waldo