The 2001 Pacific hurricane season was the annual cycle of tropical cyclone formation over the Pacific Ocean north of the equator and east of the International Date Line (IDL). The season officially began on May 15 in the Eastern Pacific proper (east of 140°W) and June 1 in the Central Pacific (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. The season's first system, Hurricane Adolph, developed on May 25; its last, Hurricane Octave, dissipated on November 3.
Activity during the 2001 season was close to average. Fifteen named tropical storms formed, of which eight became hurricanes and two further intensified into major hurricanes—Category 3 or higher on the five-level Saffir–Simpson scale. The season also produced four tropical depressions that failed to attain tropical storm status. Four weak tropical cyclones existed in the Central Pacific, with two forming in the region and two entering from the Eastern Pacific. Hurricane Juliette made the season's only landfall when it came ashore the Baja California peninsula as a minimal tropical storm in late September, though it produced hurricane conditions near Cabo San Lucas while its center was still offshore.
This timeline documents tropical cyclone formations, strengthenings, weakenings, landfalls, 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 and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center 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
May May 15 The 2001 Eastern Pacific hurricane season officially begins.
May 25 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression forms from a tropical wave about south-southwest of Acapulco, Guerrero.
May 26 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression strengthens into Tropical Storm Adolph about south-southwest of Acapulco.
May 27 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Storm Adolph strengthens into a Category 1 hurricane about south of Acapulco.
May 28 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, May 27) at Hurricane Adolph strengthens to Category 2 intensity about south of Acapulco. 06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, May 27) at Hurricane Adolph strengthens to Category 3 intensity about south of Acapulco. 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Hurricane Adolph strengthens to Category 4 intensity about south-southwest of Acapulco.
May 29
00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, May 28) at Hurricane Adolph attains its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of , about southwest of Acapulco. This makes it, at the time, the strongest recorded Pacific hurricane in May.
May 30 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, May 29) at Hurricane Adolph weakens to Category 3 intensity about west of Acapulco. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Hurricane Adolph weakens to Category 2 intensity about west of Acapulco, or about south-southeast of Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur.
May 31 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, May 30) at Hurricane Adolph weakens to Category 1 intensity about south of Cabo San Lucas.
June June 1 The 2001 Central Pacific hurricane season officially begins. 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, May 31) at Hurricane Adolph weakens into a tropical storm about south-southwest of Cabo San Lucas. 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Storm Adolph weakens into a tropical depression about south-southwest of Cabo San Lucas, dissipating shortly thereafter.
June 20 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, June 19) at Tropical Depression forms from a tropical wave about southwest of Cabo San Lucas. 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression strengthens into Tropical Storm Barbara about west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas.
June 21
12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Storm Barbara attains its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of , about west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas.
June 22 18:00 UTC (8:00 a.m. HST) at Tropical Storm Barbara weakens into a tropical depression about east of Cape Kumukahi Light in Hawaii, as it crosses 140°W into the Central Pacific basin.
June 26 06:00 UTC (8:00 p.m. HST, June 25) at Tropical Depression Barbara is last noted as a tropical cyclone about northwest of Niihau, Hawaii, dissipating shortly thereafter.
July July 13
06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, July 12) at Tropical Depression forms from a tropical wave about southwest of Manzanillo, Colima. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression strengthens into Tropical Storm Cosme about west-southwest of Manzanillo, or about south of Cabo San Lucas. 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Storm Cosme attains its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of , about south of Cabo San Lucas.
July 14 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Storm Cosme weakens into a tropical depression about southwest of Cabo San Lucas.
July 15 06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, July 14) at Tropical Depression Cosme is last noted as a tropical cyclone about west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas, degenerating into a remnant low shortly thereafter.
July 20 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression forms from a tropical wave about southwest of Cabo San Lucas.
July 21
00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, July 20) at Tropical Depression forms from a tropical wave about south-southeast of Puerto Ángel, Oaxaca. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression strengthens into Tropical Storm Dalila about south of Puerto Ángel. 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression strengthens into Tropical Storm Erick about southwest of Cabo San Lucas.
July 22 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Storm Erick attains its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of , about west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas.
July 23 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Storm Erick weakens into a tropical depression about west of Cabo San Lucas.
July 24 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, July 23) at Tropical Depression Erick is last noted as a tropical cyclone about west of Cabo San Lucas, dissipating shortly thereafter. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Storm Dalila strengthens into a Category 1 hurricane about south of Cabo San Lucas. It simultaneously attains its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of . 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Hurricane Dalila weakens into a tropical storm about south of Cabo San Lucas.
July 28
00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, July 27) at Tropical Storm Dalila weakens into a tropical depression about west of Cabo San Lucas. 06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, July 27) at Tropical Depression Dalila is last noted as a tropical cyclone about west of Cabo San Lucas, dissipating shortly thereafter.
August August 22 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression forms from a tropical wave about east of Cape Kumukahi Light. 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression attains its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of , about east of Cape Kumukahi Light.
August 24 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, August 23) at Tropical Depression is last noted as a tropical cyclone about east of Cape Kumukahi Light, dissipating shortly thereafter.
August 26 06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, August 25) at Tropical Depression forms from a tropical wave about south-southeast of Cabo San Lucas. 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression strengthens into Tropical Storm Flossie about south of Cabo San Lucas.
August 27 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Storm Flossie strengthens into a Category 1 hurricane about southwest of Cabo San Lucas.
August 29
12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Hurricane Flossie strengthens to Category 2 intensity about west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas. 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Hurricane Flossie attains its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of , about west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas.
August 30 06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, August 29) at Hurricane Flossie weakens to Category 1 intensity about west of Cabo San Lucas, or about south-southwest of Punta Eugenia, Baja California Sur.
August 31 06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, August 30) at Hurricane Flossie weakens into a tropical storm about southwest of Punta Eugenia.
September September 1 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Storm Flossie weakens into a tropical depression about southwest of Punta Eugenia.
September 2
00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, September 1) at Tropical Depression Flossie is last noted as a tropical cyclone about west-southwest of Punta Eugenia, dissipating shortly thereafter.
September 4 06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, September 3) at Tropical Depression forms from a tropical wave about southwest of Cabo San Lucas. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression strengthens into Tropical Storm Gil about west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression forms from a monsoon-like tropical wave about west-southwest of Manzanillo.
September 5 06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, September 4) at Tropical Depression strengthens into Tropical Storm Henriette about south-southwest of Cabo San Lucas.
September 6 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, September 5) at Tropical Storm Gil strengthens into a Category 1 hurricane about west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas. 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Hurricane Gil strengthens to Category 2 intensity about west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas. It simultaneously attains its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of .
September 7
00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, September 6) at Tropical Storm Henriette attains its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of , about west of Cabo San Lucas. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Hurricane Gil weakens to Category 1 intensity about west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas.
September 8 06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, September 7) at Hurricane Gil weakens into a tropical storm about west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Storm Henriette weakens into a tropical depression about west of Cabo San Lucas, dissipating shortly thereafter when it is absorbed by Tropical Storm Gil.
September 9 00:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. PDT, September 8) at Tropical Storm Gil weakens into a tropical depression about west of Cabo San Lucas. 18:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression Gil is last noted as a tropical cyclone about west of Cabo San Lucas, dissipating shortly thereafter.
September 10 00:00 UTC (2:00 p.m. HST, September 9) at Tropical Depression forms about southeast of Cape Kumukahi Light. 12:00 UTC (2:00 a.m. HST) at Tropical Depression attains peak maximum sustained winds of about southeast of Cape Kumukahi Light. 12:00 UTC (5:00 a.m. PDT) at Tropical Depression forms from a tropical wave about south-southeast of Acapulco. 18:00 UTC (8:00 a.m. HST) at Tropical Depression attains a minimum central pressure of about southeast of Cape Kumukahi Light.
September 11 06:00 UTC (11:00 p.m. PDT, September 10) at Tropical Depression strengthens into Tropical Storm Ivo about west-southwest of Acapulco.