The 2023 season

Hurricane Lidia (2023)

Hurricane Lidia reached Category 4 in the Eastern Pacific between October 3, 2023 and October 11, 2023, with a lowest pressure of 942 mb, and made landfall. It killed 3 people directly, by the National Hurricane Center’s count.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Lidia, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2023 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 3, 2023 to October 11, 2023
Peak strength
Category 4, 120 kt (138 mph)
Lowest pressure
942 mb (27.82 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
12.0
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
120 nmi (222 km, 138 mi) from the center at its widest
Hurricane-force wind reached
25 nmi (46 km, 29 mi) from the center at its widest
Eyewall radius at its peak
15 nmi (28 km, 17 mi)
Overall size
300 nmi (556 km, 345 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Peak gust in the best track
145 kt (167 mph)
Fastest the center moved
42 kt (48 mph)
Identifier
EP152023

Deaths and damage

The sources count different things and are not added together.

National Hurricane Center

3 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)WherePositionWindPressure
Oct 11, 00:00Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico, 64 km away20.1N 105.5W120 kt (138 mph)942 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 3, 00:0011.2N 105.8W30 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Oct 3, 06:0011.5N 106.4W35 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Oct 3, 12:0011.9N 107.0W35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Oct 3, 18:0012.5N 107.4W35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Oct 4, 00:0013.2N 107.8W35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Oct 4, 06:0013.9N 108.2W40 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Oct 4, 12:0014.6N 108.6W45 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Oct 4, 18:0015.1N 108.8W45 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Oct 5, 00:0015.4N 109.0W45 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Oct 5, 06:0015.6N 109.2W45 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Oct 5, 12:0015.8N 109.4W50 kt999 mbTropical storm
Oct 5, 18:0015.9N 109.6W50 kt999 mbTropical storm
Oct 6, 00:0016.0N 109.8W55 kt996 mbTropical storm
Oct 6, 06:0016.1N 110.1W60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 6, 12:0016.2N 110.5W60 kt991 mbTropical storm
Oct 6, 18:0016.2N 110.9W60 kt991 mbTropical storm
Oct 7, 00:0016.2N 111.3W55 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 7, 06:0016.1N 111.7W55 kt995 mbTropical storm
Oct 7, 12:0016.0N 112.0W55 kt995 mbTropical storm
Oct 7, 18:0016.0N 112.2W55 kt995 mbTropical storm
Oct 8, 00:0016.0N 112.4W60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 8, 06:0016.3N 112.6W60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 8, 12:0016.7N 112.8W60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 8, 18:0017.3N 112.8W60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 9, 00:0017.8N 112.7W60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 9, 06:0018.1N 112.4W55 kt992 mbTropical storm
Oct 9, 12:0018.1N 112.0W55 kt992 mbTropical storm
Oct 9, 18:0017.8N 111.4W65 kt985 mbHurricane
Oct 10, 00:0018.1N 110.6W70 kt981 mbHurricane
Oct 10, 06:0018.4N 109.7W75 kt979 mbHurricane
Oct 10, 12:0018.8N 108.5W80 kt973 mbHurricane
Oct 10, 18:0019.3N 107.1W105 kt952 mbHurricane
Oct 11, 00:00 landfall20.1N 105.5W120 kt942 mbHurricane
Oct 11, 06:0021.7N 103.5W60 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 12:0024.5N 100.5W20 kt1004 mbLow

Other Eastern Pacific storms of 2023

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.