The 2012 season

Hurricane Carlotta (2012)

Hurricane Carlotta reached Category 2 in the Eastern Pacific between June 13, 2012 and June 17, 2012, with a lowest pressure of 973 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Carlotta, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2012 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
June 13, 2012 to June 17, 2012
Peak strength
Category 2, 95 kt (109 mph)
Lowest pressure
973 mb (28.73 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
3.6
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
90 nmi (167 km, 104 mi) from the center at its widest
Hurricane-force wind reached
35 nmi (65 km, 40 mi) from the center at its widest
Eyewall radius at its peak
15 nmi (28 km, 17 mi)
Overall size
225 nmi (417 km, 259 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Peak gust in the best track
110 kt (127 mph)
Fastest the center moved
16 kt (18 mph)
Identifier
EP032012

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads carries a casualty or damage figure for this storm.

Landfall

Time (UTC)WherePositionWindPressure
Jun 16, 01:00Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico, 19 km away15.8N 96.9W90 kt (104 mph)976 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
Jun 13, 18:008.7N 91.5W30 kt1006 mbLow
Jun 14, 00:009.2N 92.3W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Jun 14, 06:009.8N 92.9W35 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jun 14, 12:0010.5N 93.4W40 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Jun 14, 18:0011.3N 94.0W45 kt999 mbTropical storm
Jun 15, 00:0012.0N 94.5W55 kt994 mbTropical storm
Jun 15, 06:0012.7N 95.0W60 kt993 mbTropical storm
Jun 15, 12:0013.5N 95.6W65 kt988 mbHurricane
Jun 15, 18:0014.4N 96.1W85 kt978 mbHurricane
Jun 16, 00:0015.6N 96.7W90 kt976 mbHurricane
Jun 16, 01:00 landfall15.8N 96.9W90 kt976 mbHurricane
Jun 16, 06:0016.5N 97.9W70 kt982 mbHurricane
Jun 16, 12:0017.3N 99.0W30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Jun 16, 18:0017.7N 99.6W25 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Jun 17, 00:0018.0N 100.1W20 kt1006 mbLow
Jun 17, 06:0018.0N 100.3W20 kt1009 mbLow

Other Eastern Pacific storms of 2012

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.