The 2018 season

Hurricane Walaka (2018)

Hurricane Walaka reached Category 5 in the Eastern Pacific between September 26, 2018 and October 7, 2018, with a lowest pressure of 921 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Walaka, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2018 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
September 26, 2018 to October 7, 2018
Peak strength
Category 5, 140 kt (161 mph)
Lowest pressure
921 mb (27.20 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
24.8
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
330 nmi (611 km, 380 mi) from the center at its widest
Hurricane-force wind reached
60 nmi (111 km, 69 mi) from the center at its widest
Eyewall radius at its peak
30 nmi (56 km, 35 mi)
Overall size
450 nmi (833 km, 518 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Peak gust in the best track
170 kt (196 mph)
Fastest the center moved
50 kt (58 mph)
Identifier
CP012018

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.

Landfall

Time (UTC)WherePositionWindPressure
Oct 4, 06:20Coast unnamed here24.1N 166.8W110 kt (127 mph)950 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
0 (0 direct, 0 indirect)
Injuries
0
Property damage
none recorded
Crop damage
none recorded
Events recorded
12 in 1 reports from 1 states and marine areas

State by state

State or marine areaDeathsInjuriesDamageEvents
Hawaii0012

What was recorded

12 high surf.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Sep 26, 06:0010.7N 140.1W25 kt1008 mbDisturbance
Sep 26, 12:0011.1N 140.7W25 kt1008 mbDisturbance
Sep 26, 18:0011.7N 141.5W25 kt1008 mbDisturbance
Sep 27, 00:0012.2N 142.6W25 kt1008 mbDisturbance
Sep 27, 06:0012.2N 144.1W25 kt1008 mbDisturbance
Sep 27, 12:0012.2N 145.7W25 kt1008 mbLow
Sep 27, 18:0012.1N 147.3W25 kt1008 mbLow
Sep 28, 00:0012.1N 148.8W25 kt1007 mbLow
Sep 28, 06:0012.0N 150.2W25 kt1007 mbLow
Sep 28, 12:0012.0N 151.5W25 kt1007 mbLow
Sep 28, 18:0011.9N 152.8W25 kt1007 mbLow
Sep 29, 00:0011.8N 154.2W25 kt1007 mbLow
Sep 29, 06:0011.8N 155.6W25 kt1007 mbLow
Sep 29, 12:0011.7N 157.1W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Sep 29, 18:0011.6N 158.6W35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 00:0011.6N 160.0W40 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 06:0011.6N 161.5W50 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 12:0011.6N 163.0W60 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 18:0011.6N 164.5W65 kt995 mbHurricane
Oct 1, 00:0011.7N 166.0W75 kt985 mbHurricane
Oct 1, 06:0011.8N 167.1W90 kt970 mbHurricane
Oct 1, 12:0012.0N 168.0W110 kt955 mbHurricane
Oct 1, 18:0012.5N 168.8W130 kt935 mbHurricane
Oct 2, 00:0012.9N 169.6W140 kt921 mbHurricane
Oct 2, 06:0013.5N 169.9W140 kt921 mbHurricane
Oct 2, 12:0014.2N 170.0W135 kt927 mbHurricane
Oct 2, 18:0015.1N 170.2W130 kt935 mbHurricane
Oct 3, 00:0016.1N 170.3W120 kt940 mbHurricane
Oct 3, 06:0017.4N 170.1W115 kt946 mbHurricane
Oct 3, 12:0018.8N 169.7W125 kt938 mbHurricane
Oct 3, 18:0020.5N 169.0W120 kt942 mbHurricane
Oct 4, 00:0022.2N 168.1W115 kt946 mbHurricane
Oct 4, 06:0024.0N 166.9W110 kt950 mbHurricane
Oct 4, 06:20 landfall24.1N 166.8W110 kt950 mbHurricane
Oct 4, 12:0025.9N 166.2W100 kt954 mbHurricane
Oct 4, 18:0028.0N 166.3W85 kt969 mbHurricane
Oct 5, 00:0029.7N 167.5W65 kt981 mbHurricane
Oct 5, 06:0030.5N 168.3W60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Oct 5, 12:0030.9N 168.3W55 kt987 mbTropical storm
Oct 5, 18:0031.8N 168.1W50 kt989 mbTropical storm
Oct 6, 00:0032.6N 167.1W45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Oct 6, 06:0033.5N 165.9W45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Oct 6, 12:0035.1N 164.5W45 kt994 mbExtratropical
Oct 6, 18:0036.9N 163.0W45 kt998 mbExtratropical
Oct 7, 00:0039.7N 160.6W45 kt1004 mbExtratropical
Oct 7, 06:0044.4N 158.3W45 kt1004 mbExtratropical
Oct 7, 12:0047.8N 155.1W35 kt1008 mbExtratropical

Other Eastern Pacific storms of 2018

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.