The 1992 Pacific hurricane season—the annual cycle of tropical cyclone formation over the Pacific Ocean north of the equator and east of the International Date Line (IDL)—was the most active Pacific hurricane season on record. It officially began on May 15 in the Eastern Pacific basin proper (east of 140°W) and June 1 in the Central Pacific basin (140°W to the IDL), and ended on November 30 in both areas. This is historically the period during which most tropical cyclogenesis occurs in these respective areas. However, tropical cyclones can form at any time of the year, as evidenced by the formation of Hurricane Ekeka on January 28. Tropical cyclone activity concluded on November 23 with the dissipation of Tropical Depression .
The season produced 27 named tropical storms, of which a record-tying 16 became hurricanes. A then-record 10 became major hurricanes by reaching Category 3 status or higher on the five-level Saffir–Simpson scale, with maximum sustained winds of at least 111 mph (179 km/h). One of these was Hurricane Tina, which at the time was the longest-lived Pacific tropical cyclone north of the equator. A total of 11 tropical cyclones either formed in the Central Pacific or crossed 140°W from the east. Three storms were named there, two of which became major hurricanes. These included Hurricane Iniki, which became the strongest hurricane in the history of Hawaii when it struck the island of Kauaʻi at Category 4 intensity, inflicting widespread destruction and killing several people. In addition to Iniki, three other systems made landfall, all as hurricanes and all in Mexico: Lester, Virgil, and Winifred.
This timeline documents tropical cyclone formations, strengthening, weakening, landfalls, extratropical transitions, and dissipations during the season. It includes information that was not released during the season, meaning that data from post-storm reviews by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) has been included.
The time stamp for each event is first stated using Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the 24-hour clock where 00:00 = midnight UTC. The NHC uses both UTC and the time zone where the center of the tropical cyclone was then located. Prior to 2015, two time zones were utilized in the Eastern Pacific basin: Pacific for the Eastern Pacific, and Hawaii−Aleutian for the Central Pacific. In this timeline, the respective area time is included in parentheses. Additionally, figures for maximum sustained winds and position estimates are rounded to the nearest 5 units (miles, or kilometers), following NHC practice. Direct wind observations are rounded to the nearest whole number. Atmospheric pressures are listed to the nearest millibar and nearest hundredth of an inch of mercury. __TOC__
Timeline of events
January January 28 06:00 UTC (8:00 p.m. HST, January 27) at Tropical Depression forms from a large area of unsettled weather about east-northeast of Tabuaeran. 18:00 UTC (8:00 a.m. HST) at Tropical Depression strengthens into Tropical Storm Ekeka about northeast of Tabuaeran.
January 30 00:00 UTC (2:00 p.m. HST, January 29) at Tropical Storm Ekeka strengthens into a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale about west-northwest of Tabuaeran.
January 31 18:00 UTC (8:00 a.m. HST) at Hurricane Ekeka strengthens to Category 2 intensity about south of Johnston Atoll.
February February 2
00:00 UTC (2:00 p.m. HST, February 1) at Hurricane Ekeka strengthens to Category 3 intensity about south-southwest of Johnston Atoll, making it the first major hurricane of the season. It simultaneously attains its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of and an unknown minimum central pressure. 12:00 UTC (2:00 a.m. HST) at Hurricane Ekeka weakens to Category 2 intensity about southwest of Johnston Atoll.
February 3 00:00 UTC (2:00 p.m. HST, February 2) at Hurricane Ekeka weakens to Category 1 intensity about southwest of Johnston Atoll. 06:00 UTC (8:00 p.m. HST, February 2) at Hurricane Ekeka weakens into a tropical storm about southwest of Johnston Atoll. 18:00 UTC (8:00 a.m. HST) at Tropical Storm Ekeka crosses the International Date Line (IDL) into the Western Pacific basin about southwest of Johnston Atoll, becoming a part of the annual typhoon season.
March March 28 06:00 UTC (8:00 p.m. HST, March 27) at Tropical Depression forms from an area of unsettled weather about south-southwest of Johnston Atoll.
March 29
12:00 UTC (2:00 a.m. HST) at Tropical Depression strengthens into Tropical Storm Hali about south-southwest of Johnston Atoll. 18:00 UTC (8:00 a.m. HST) at Tropical Storm Hali attains its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of and an unknown minimum central pressure, about south-southwest of Johnston Atoll.
March 30 12:00 UTC (2:00 a.m. HST) at Tropical Storm Hali weakens into a tropical depression about south-southwest of Johnston Atoll. 18:00 UTC (8:00 a.m. HST) at Tropical Depression Hali is last noted as a tropical cyclone about south-southwest of Johnston Atoll, dissipating shortly thereafter.
April No tropical cyclones developed during the month of April.
May The 1992 Eastern Pacific hurricane season officially begins. No tropical cyclones developed during the month of May.
June June 1 The 1992 Central Pacific hurricane season officially begins. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression forms from a tropical wave about south-southwest of Acapulco, Guerrero.
June 2 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, June 1) at Tropical Depression strengthens into Tropical Storm Agatha about south-southwest of Acapulco.
June 3
00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, June 2) at Tropical Storm Agatha attains its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of , about southwest of Zihuatanejo, Guerrero.
June 5 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, June 4) at Tropical Storm Agatha weakens into a tropical depression about south of Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco. 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression Agatha is last noted as a tropical cyclone about south-southwest of Cabo Corrientes, dissipating shortly thereafter.
June 16 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression forms several hundred miles off the Pacific coast of Mexico. It simultaneously attains its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of .
June 18 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression is last noted as a tropical cyclone over open waters, dissipating shortly thereafter.
June 22 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression forms from a tropical wave about south of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression forms from a tropical wave about south-southeast of Ocós, San Marcos.
June 23
00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, June 22) at Tropical Depression strengthens into Tropical Storm Blas about south-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. 06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, June 22) at Tropical Storm Blas attains its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of , about south-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Storm Blas weakens into a tropical depression about southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, dissipating shortly thereafter. 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression strengthens into Tropical Storm Celia about south of Puerto Ángel, Oaxaca.
June 24 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Storm Celia strengthens into a Category 1 hurricane about west-southwest of Puerto Ángel.
June 26 06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, June 25) at Hurricane Celia strengthens to Category 2 intensity about south of Cabo Corrientes. 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Hurricane Celia strengthens to Category 3 intensity about south-southwest of Cabo Corrientes, making it the second major hurricane of the season.
June 27
00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, June 26) at Hurricane Celia strengthens to Category 4 intensity about south-southwest of Cabo Corrientes. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Hurricane Celia attains its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of , about southwest of Cabo Corrientes.
June 28 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Hurricane Celia weakens to Category 3 intensity about southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.
June 29 06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, June 28) at Hurricane Celia weakens to Category 2 intensity about southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Hurricane Celia weakens to Category 1 intensity about west-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.
June 30 06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, June 29) at Hurricane Celia restrengthens to Category 2 intensity about west-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.
July July 1 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, June 30) at Hurricane Celia weakens back to Category 1 intensity about west-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.
July 2 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, July 1) at Hurricane Celia weakens into a tropical storm about west-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression forms from a tropical wave about southeast of Acapulco.
July 3 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, July 2) at Tropical Storm Celia weakens into a tropical depression about west-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression strengthens into Tropical Storm Darby about south-southeast of Acapulco.
July 4 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression Celia dissipates about west of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.
July 5 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, July 4) at Tropical Storm Darby strengthens into a Category 1 hurricane about south of Manzanillo, Colima. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Hurricane Darby strengthens to Category 2 intensity about southeast of Socorro Island.
July 6
00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, July 5) at Hurricane Darby strengthens to Category 3 intensity about west of Socorro Island, making it the third major hurricane of the season. 06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, July 5) at Hurricane Darby attains its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of , about west-northwest of Socorro Island. 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Hurricane Darby weakens to Category 2 intensity about west-northwest of Socorro Island.
July 7 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Hurricane Darby weakens to Category 1 intensity about west of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.
July 8 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, July 7) at Hurricane Darby weakens into a tropical storm about west of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.
July 9 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, July 8) at Tropical Storm Darby weakens into a tropical depression about west-northwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, July 8) at Tropical Depression forms from a tropical wave about west-southwest of Acapulco. 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression strengthens into Tropical Storm Estelle about south of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.
July 10 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, July 9) at Tropical Depression Darby dissipates as it loses its tropical characteristics about west-northwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.
July 11 06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, July 10) t Tropical Storm Estelle strengthens into a Category 1 hurricane about south-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Hurricane Estelle strengthens to Category 2 intensity about southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.