The 1989 season

Hurricane Kiko (1989)

Hurricane Kiko reached Category 3 in the Eastern Pacific between August 25, 1989 and August 29, 1989, with a lowest pressure of 955 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Kiko, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1989 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 25, 1989 to August 29, 1989
Peak strength
Category 3, 105 kt (121 mph)
Lowest pressure
955 mb (28.20 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
5.8
Fastest the center moved
7 kt (8 mph)
Identifier
EP141989

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.

Landfall

Time (UTC)WherePositionWindPressure
Aug 27, 06:00San José del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico, 61 km away23.6N 109.7W100 kt (115 mph)960 mb

Landfall points the US agencies flagged in the best track. The nearest town is named from the site’s gazetteer, not from the report.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Aug 25, 12:0021.7N 107.0W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Aug 25, 18:0021.9N 107.2W35 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 00:0022.3N 107.6W45 kt997 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 06:0022.7N 108.0W65 kt987 mbHurricane
Aug 26, 12:0023.0N 108.4W85 kt975 mbHurricane
Aug 26, 18:0023.2N 108.8W100 kt960 mbHurricane
Aug 27, 00:0023.5N 109.3W105 kt955 mbHurricane
Aug 27, 06:00 landfall23.6N 109.7W100 kt960 mbHurricane
Aug 27, 12:0023.8N 110.1W80 kt968 mbHurricane
Aug 27, 18:0023.8N 110.5W60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 00:0023.9N 110.8W45 kt982 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 06:0023.8N 111.1W30 kt988 mbTropical depression
Aug 28, 12:0023.5N 111.4W25 kt994 mbTropical depression
Aug 28, 18:0023.0N 111.8W25 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Aug 29, 00:0022.8N 112.2W25 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Aug 29, 06:0022.3N 112.8W25 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Aug 29, 12:0021.6N 113.0W20 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Aug 29, 18:0021.0N 113.1W15 kt1010 mbTropical depression

Other Eastern Pacific storms of 1989

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.