Hurricane Olaf (2021)

Hurricane Olaf reached Category 2 in the Eastern Pacific between September 6, 2021 and September 12, 2021, with a lowest pressure of 975 mb, and made landfall. It killed 1 people directly, by the National Hurricane Center’s count.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Olaf, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2021 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin: Eastern Pacific
Dates: September 6, 2021 to September 12, 2021
Peak strength: Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure: 975 mb (28.79 inHg)
Landfall: Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy: 3.7
Tropical-storm-force wind reached: 100 nmi (185 km, 115 mi) from the center at its widest
Hurricane-force wind reached: 30 nmi (56 km, 35 mi) from the center at its widest
Eyewall radius at its peak: 20 nmi (37 km, 23 mi)
Overall size: 150 nmi (278 km, 173 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Peak gust in the best track: 100 kt (115 mph)
Fastest the center moved: 12 kt (14 mph)
Identifier: EP152021

Deaths and damage

The sources count different things and are not added together.

National Hurricane Center

1 direct deathsnone recorded in the United States

The season table in NHC’s report archive, final report. Direct deaths are those caused by the storm’s own wind, water or surge, anywhere in the world.

Landfall

Time (UTC)	Where	Position	Wind	Pressure
Sep 10, 02:50	San José del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico, 6 km away	23.0N 109.7W	90 kt (104 mph)	975 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)	Position	Wind	Pressure	Status
Sep 6, 18:00	17.1N 105.8W	25 kt	1009 mb	Low
Sep 7, 00:00	17.4N 106.3W	25 kt	1009 mb	Low
Sep 7, 06:00	17.6N 106.7W	25 kt	1009 mb	Low
Sep 7, 12:00	17.9N 107.1W	30 kt	1007 mb	Low
Sep 7, 18:00	18.1N 107.2W	30 kt	1007 mb	Tropical depression
Sep 8, 00:00	18.3N 107.2W	30 kt	1007 mb	Tropical depression
Sep 8, 06:00	18.5N 107.2W	30 kt	1006 mb	Tropical depression
Sep 8, 12:00	18.8N 107.3W	35 kt	1005 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 8, 18:00	19.2N 107.5W	40 kt	1002 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 9, 00:00	19.7N 107.6W	45 kt	1000 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 9, 06:00	20.2N 107.8W	55 kt	993 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 9, 12:00	20.9N 108.1W	65 kt	987 mb	Hurricane
Sep 9, 18:00	21.8N 108.6W	75 kt	981 mb	Hurricane
Sep 10, 00:00	22.7N 109.3W	85 kt	977 mb	Hurricane
Sep 10, 02:50 landfall	23.0N 109.7W	90 kt	975 mb	Hurricane
Sep 10, 06:00	23.4N 110.2W	75 kt	982 mb	Hurricane
Sep 10, 12:00	24.0N 111.2W	60 kt	990 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 10, 18:00	24.5N 112.2W	45 kt	997 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 11, 00:00	24.7N 113.0W	35 kt	1003 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 11, 06:00	24.6N 113.6W	30 kt	1005 mb	Low
Sep 11, 12:00	24.5N 114.1W	30 kt	1006 mb	Low
Sep 11, 18:00	24.4N 114.5W	25 kt	1008 mb	Low
Sep 12, 00:00	24.3N 114.8W	25 kt	1008 mb	Low

Other Eastern Pacific storms of 2021

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.