Hurricane Pauline (1997)
Hurricane Pauline reached Category 4 in the Eastern Pacific between October 5, 1997 and October 10, 1997, with a lowest pressure of 948 mb, and made landfall. It killed 2 people in the United States, by the National Weather Service’s record.
Radar
Reflectivity now over Hurricane Pauline. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.
Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.
The storm
- Basin
- Eastern Pacific
- Dates
- October 5, 1997 to October 10, 1997
- Peak strength
- Category 4, 115 kt (132 mph)
- Lowest pressure
- 948 mb (27.99 inHg)
- Landfall
- Yes
- Accumulated cyclone energy
- 11.3
- Fastest the center moved
- 15 kt (17 mph)
- Identifier
- EP181997
Deaths and damage
The sources count different things and are not added together.
NOAA Storm Events
2 deaths (2 direct, 0 indirect)none recorded
What National Weather Service offices recorded county by county in 1 states and marine areas, in the United States only. Property and crop damage as each office estimated it, which is not a national loss total.
Landfall
| Time (UTC) | Where | Position | Wind | Pressure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 9, 00:00 | Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico, 59 km away | 16.0N 97.6W | 95 kt (109 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.
In the United States
NOAA’s Storm Events database, the record National Weather Service offices compile months after a storm, as compiled March 2026.
- Deaths
- 2 (2 direct, 0 indirect)
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- none recorded
- Crop damage
- none recorded
- Events recorded
- 11 in 1 reports from 1 states and marine areas
State by state
| State or marine area | Deaths | Injuries | Damage | Events |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 2 | 0 | 11 |
What was recorded
11 flash flood.
Track
| Time (UTC) | Position | Wind | Pressure | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 5, 12:00 | 12.2N 96.6W | 25 kt | 1009 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 5, 18:00 | 12.1N 96.0W | 25 kt | 1009 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 6, 00:00 | 12.0N 95.5W | 30 kt | 1008 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 6, 06:00 | 11.9N 95.0W | 35 kt | 1005 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 6, 12:00 | 11.9N 94.5W | 45 kt | 1000 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 6, 18:00 | 12.2N 94.2W | 55 kt | 990 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 7, 00:00 | 12.5N 94.1W | 70 kt | 977 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 7, 06:00 | 12.9N 94.2W | 100 kt | 955 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 7, 12:00 | 13.2N 94.5W | 115 kt | 948 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 7, 18:00 | 13.5N 94.9W | 110 kt | 949 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 8, 00:00 | 13.8N 95.3W | 100 kt | 955 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 8, 06:00 | 14.2N 95.6W | 100 kt | 959 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 8, 12:00 | 14.6N 95.9W | 110 kt | 954 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 8, 18:00 | 15.3N 96.3W | 115 kt | 948 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 9, 00:00 landfall | 16.0N 97.6W | 95 kt | 960 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 9, 06:00 | 16.7N 99.0W | 70 kt | 973 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 9, 12:00 | 17.3N 100.4W | 60 kt | 989 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 9, 18:00 | 17.9N 101.4W | 50 kt | 1000 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 10, 00:00 | 18.6N 102.0W | 40 kt | 1005 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 10, 06:00 | 19.2N 102.6W | 30 kt | 1009 mb | Tropical depression |
Other Eastern Pacific storms of 1997
- Tropical Storm AndresEastern Pacific · 1997
- Tropical Storm BlancaEastern Pacific · 1997
- Unnamed tropical depressionEastern Pacific · 1997
- Tropical Storm CarlosEastern Pacific · 1997
- Unnamed tropical depressionEastern Pacific · 1997
- Hurricane DoloresEastern Pacific · 1997
- Hurricane EnriqueEastern Pacific · 1997
- Hurricane FeliciaEastern Pacific · 1997
- Unnamed tropical depressionEastern Pacific · 1997
- Hurricane GuillermoEastern Pacific · 1997
- Tropical Storm HildaEastern Pacific · 1997
- Unnamed tropical depressionEastern Pacific · 1997
- Tropical Storm IgnacioEastern Pacific · 1997
- Hurricane JimenaEastern Pacific · 1997
- Hurricane OliwaEastern Pacific · 1997
- Tropical Storm KevinEastern Pacific · 1997
- Hurricane LindaEastern Pacific · 1997
- Tropical Storm MartyEastern Pacific · 1997
- Hurricane NoraEastern Pacific · 1997
- Tropical Storm EllaEastern Pacific · 1997
- Tropical Storm OlafEastern Pacific · 1997
- Unnamed tropical depressionEastern Pacific · 1997
- Unnamed tropical stormEastern Pacific · 1997
- Hurricane RickEastern Pacific · 1997
- Hurricane PakaEastern Pacific · 1997
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.