Hurricane Jimena (2003)

Hurricane Jimena

Category 2 hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Hurricane Jimena at peak intensity on August 30
Formed	August 28, 2003
Dissipated	September 5, 2003
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 105 mph (165 km/h)
Lowest pressure	970 mbar (hPa); 28.64 inHg
Fatalities	None
Areas affected	Hawaii
Part of the 2003 Pacific hurricane season

Hurricane Jimena was the tenth named storm and second hurricane of the 2003 Pacific hurricane season. Jimena formed on August 28 in the far Eastern Pacific Ocean as a tropical depression and moved westward where it rapidly became a hurricane the following day. The storm moved westward into the Central Pacific Ocean where it became a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale. After reaching its peak strength as a Category 2 hurricane, the storm began to weaken due to increasing wind shear. Jimena brushed past the Hawaiian Islands before becoming a tropical depression on September 3. The weakening storm then crossed the international dateline before dissipating on September 5, becoming one of the few storms to cross both 140ºW and International Date Line.

Jimena was the first Pacific hurricane to threaten Hawaii since Hurricane Daniel of the 2000 Pacific hurricane season. However, the storm weakened as it passed south of the islands and the effects from Jimena were minimal; there were no reported fatalities or injuries from the storm.

An area of disturbed weather formed on August 26, 2003 and drifted westward. The disturbed weather then began to organize and the system became a tropical depression on August 28. Moving westward over waters greater than 82 °F (28 °C), Tropical Depression Ten-E rapidly strengthened into a tropical storm and was named Jimena by the National Hurricane Center.

Jimena continued to intensify as it moved westward. On August 29, satellite imagery showed a well defined eye developing in the storm as the storm winds increased to 60 mph (97 km/h). Jimena then was upgraded to hurricane status later that day. At 1500 UTC, visible satellite imagery showed the storm having a small cloud filled eye and developing banding features south of the storm's center as Jimena continued to move west northwest. As the hurricane neared the Central Pacific Basin, it winds reached a peak intensity of 105 mph (165 km/h) and the barometric pressure fell to 970 millibars on August 30. At 0600 UTC, the National Hurricane Center issued its last advisory on Jimena as the storm crossed into the Central Pacific Hurricane Center's area of responsibility.