The 2016 season

Hurricane Lester (2016)

Hurricane Lester reached Category 4 in the Eastern Pacific between August 24, 2016 and September 8, 2016, with a lowest pressure of 944 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Hurricane Lester. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
Eastern Pacific
Dates
August 24, 2016 to September 8, 2016
Peak strength
Category 4, 125 kt (144 mph)
Lowest pressure
944 mb (27.88 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 168 km (104 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
35.4
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
130 nmi (241 km, 150 mi) from the center at its widest
Hurricane-force wind reached
50 nmi (93 km, 58 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
145 kt (167 mph)
Fastest the center moved
23 kt (26 mph)
Identifier
EP132016

Radar at PHMO as it neared land, Sep 4, 00:00 UTC

Deaths and damage

The sources count different things and are not added together.

NOAA Storm Events

0 deaths (0 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.

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
0 (0 direct, 0 indirect)
Injuries
0
Property damage
none recorded
Crop damage
none recorded
Events recorded
14 in 1 reports from 1 states and marine areas

State by state

State or marine areaDeathsInjuriesDamageEvents
Hawaii0014

What was recorded

9 high surf, 5 heavy rain.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Aug 24, 06:0014.3N 107.4W25 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Aug 24, 12:0014.7N 108.5W25 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Aug 24, 18:0015.1N 109.5W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Aug 25, 00:0015.5N 110.4W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Aug 25, 06:0016.0N 111.3W35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 12:0016.4N 112.3W45 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 18:0016.6N 113.0W50 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 00:0016.8N 113.6W50 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 06:0017.1N 114.2W50 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 12:0017.4N 114.7W55 kt997 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 18:0017.6N 115.3W60 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 00:0017.8N 116.1W65 kt989 mbHurricane
Aug 27, 06:0017.8N 116.9W75 kt982 mbHurricane
Aug 27, 12:0017.8N 117.8W85 kt975 mbHurricane
Aug 27, 18:0017.9N 119.0W95 kt969 mbHurricane
Aug 28, 00:0017.9N 120.3W90 kt973 mbHurricane
Aug 28, 06:0017.9N 121.6W85 kt977 mbHurricane
Aug 28, 12:0017.8N 122.9W75 kt983 mbHurricane
Aug 28, 18:0017.8N 124.2W75 kt983 mbHurricane
Aug 29, 00:0017.8N 125.6W80 kt980 mbHurricane
Aug 29, 06:0017.9N 127.1W95 kt969 mbHurricane
Aug 29, 12:0018.0N 128.6W105 kt960 mbHurricane
Aug 29, 18:0018.0N 129.9W115 kt952 mbHurricane
Aug 30, 00:0018.1N 131.2W115 kt953 mbHurricane
Aug 30, 06:0018.1N 132.5W110 kt957 mbHurricane
Aug 30, 12:0018.1N 133.8W105 kt961 mbHurricane
Aug 30, 18:0017.9N 135.0W105 kt961 mbHurricane
Aug 31, 00:0017.8N 136.0W120 kt948 mbHurricane
Aug 31, 06:0017.7N 137.0W125 kt944 mbHurricane
Aug 31, 12:0017.7N 138.1W120 kt948 mbHurricane
Aug 31, 18:0017.9N 139.3W115 kt953 mbHurricane
Sep 1, 00:0018.1N 140.6W105 kt959 mbHurricane
Sep 1, 06:0018.1N 141.8W95 kt967 mbHurricane
Sep 1, 12:0018.2N 143.0W90 kt971 mbHurricane
Sep 1, 18:0018.3N 144.2W100 kt964 mbHurricane
Sep 2, 00:0018.6N 145.4W110 kt957 mbHurricane
Sep 2, 06:0018.9N 146.6W100 kt963 mbHurricane
Sep 2, 12:0019.4N 147.8W95 kt968 mbHurricane
Sep 2, 18:0019.9N 149.2W90 kt974 mbHurricane
Sep 3, 00:0020.4N 150.5W85 kt977 mbHurricane
Sep 3, 06:0020.9N 151.7W80 kt979 mbHurricane
Sep 3, 12:0021.5N 153.2W75 kt982 mbHurricane
Sep 3, 18:0022.0N 154.6W70 kt989 mbHurricane
Sep 4, 00:0022.5N 156.0W65 kt993 mbHurricane
Sep 4, 06:0023.0N 157.3W55 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 12:0024.0N 158.7W50 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 18:0025.0N 159.7W45 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 00:0026.1N 160.7W45 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 06:0027.2N 161.9W50 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 12:0028.3N 163.3W50 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 18:0029.3N 164.3W50 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 00:0030.3N 165.0W50 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 06:0031.6N 165.7W50 kt999 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 12:0032.6N 166.3W50 kt999 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 18:0033.6N 166.5W50 kt999 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 00:0034.6N 166.4W45 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0035.7N 166.3W45 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0036.9N 165.8W45 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0038.1N 165.0W45 kt1001 mbLow
Sep 8, 00:0040.1N 164.1W45 kt1001 mbLow

Other Eastern Pacific storms of 2016

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.