The 2018 season

Hurricane Willa (2018)

Hurricane Willa reached Category 5 in the Eastern Pacific between October 19, 2018 and October 24, 2018, with a lowest pressure of 925 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Willa, 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
October 19, 2018 to October 24, 2018
Peak strength
Category 5, 140 kt (161 mph)
Lowest pressure
925 mb (27.32 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
15.7
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
110 nmi (204 km, 127 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
5 nmi (9 km, 6 mi)
Overall size
240 nmi (444 km, 276 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Peak gust in the best track
170 kt (196 mph)
Fastest the center moved
23 kt (26 mph)
Identifier
EP242018

Deaths and damage

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

Landfall

Time (UTC)WherePositionWindPressure
Oct 24, 01:30Escuinapa de Hidalgo, Sinaloa, Mexico, 15 km away22.7N 105.8W100 kt (115 mph)968 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
Oct 19, 00:0014.2N 98.9W25 kt1007 mbLow
Oct 19, 06:0014.5N 100.4W25 kt1007 mbLow
Oct 19, 12:0014.7N 101.7W25 kt1007 mbLow
Oct 19, 18:0014.8N 102.8W25 kt1007 mbLow
Oct 20, 00:0014.8N 103.6W30 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Oct 20, 06:0014.7N 104.5W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Oct 20, 12:0014.9N 105.1W35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Oct 20, 18:0015.1N 105.5W45 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Oct 21, 00:0015.5N 105.9W55 kt996 mbTropical storm
Oct 21, 06:0016.0N 106.3W70 kt987 mbHurricane
Oct 21, 12:0016.4N 106.6W85 kt975 mbHurricane
Oct 21, 18:0016.8N 106.9W100 kt962 mbHurricane
Oct 22, 00:0017.5N 107.1W120 kt945 mbHurricane
Oct 22, 06:0017.9N 107.1W140 kt925 mbHurricane
Oct 22, 12:0018.7N 107.2W135 kt928 mbHurricane
Oct 22, 18:0019.4N 107.2W130 kt934 mbHurricane
Oct 23, 00:0020.2N 107.2W120 kt943 mbHurricane
Oct 23, 06:0020.6N 107.2W110 kt952 mbHurricane
Oct 23, 12:0021.1N 107.1W105 kt960 mbHurricane
Oct 23, 18:0021.7N 106.7W100 kt965 mbHurricane
Oct 24, 00:0022.5N 106.0W100 kt968 mbHurricane
Oct 24, 01:30 landfall22.7N 105.8W100 kt968 mbHurricane
Oct 24, 06:0023.8N 104.6W45 kt990 mbTropical storm

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.