Storm Peaked to 90 MPH Winds; Third Hurricane Already in EPAC

While Tropical Storm Bill preoccupied many in the United States this past week, the Eastern Pacific continued to have a strong start with its third hurricane of the season, Carlos. The 2015 EPAC season is the second fastest to reach its third hurricane. Only the 1956 Eastern Pacific Season was faster in reaching its third hurricane.

Forming in the very warm waters of the Eastern Pacific near Southern and Western Mexico, Carlos did manage to attain peak winds of 90 miles per hour, but couldn’t match the intensity of its two 2015 EPAC predecessors: Andres and Blanca, which both strengthened to high end Category Four Hurricanes with 145 and 140 mph winds respectively. Like Blanca, Carlos approached portions of Western Mexico, but mostly fizzled out by the time its center reached land.

Before dissipating to a remnant low on Wednesday, Hurricane Carlos did manage to produce significant rains. At peak intensity of 90 mph winds and minimum pressure of 984 millibars, or 29.06 inches of Hg on Tuesday afternoon, the Category One storm brought 3 to 6 inches of rainfall to Mexican states of Guerrero, Michoacan, Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit, Durango, and Sinaloa with isolated areas receiving upwards of 10 inches. Carlos was a compact storm with hurricane force winds only extending some 10 miles from the eye while tropical storm force winds reaching out some 45 miles.

With an El Nino episode forecasted this year, there were already high expectations in the Eastern Pacific, and so far it hasn’t disappointed. All three EPAC systems that formed so far in 2015 have become hurricanes with two of them reaching major hurricane threshold. This followed a very busy 2014 season with 21 tropical depressions, 20 hurricanes, 14 hurricanes, and 9 major hurricanes.