Hurricane Lily (1971)

Hurricane Lily

Category 1 hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Hurricane Lily on August 30 around the time it reached hurricane intensity.
Formed	August 28, 1971
Dissipated	August 31, 1971
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 85 mph (140 km/h)
Lowest pressure	980 mbar (hPa); 28.94 inHg
Fatalities	12-14 direct
Areas affected	Mexico
Part of the 1971 Pacific hurricane season

Hurricane Lily was a short-lived Category 1 hurricane of August 1971 that devastated the city of Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. Forming from an area of cloudiness associated with former Atlantic Tropical Storm Chloe, the storm slowly intensified, building to peak intensity just before landfall northwest of Manzanillo, Colima on August 31. The hurricane quickly weakened and became extratropical. After leaving land, the extratropical remnants of Lily dissipated on September 1. The storm's movement close to land affected shipping due to the limited warning, which was partially set back due to difficulties in clarifying the hurricane's position on radar from reconnaissance aircraft.

The hurricane was Puerto Vallarta's worst in two decades and the second hurricane of the season to heavily impact Mexico after Hurricane Bridget. The storm caused the Cuale River to overflow its banks, inundating the downtown section of Puerto Vallarta with water that was up to 8 feet (2.4 m) deep in some sections. The Mexican army flew in aid after trucks were blocked by flooded roads. The hurricane claimed three lives on the mainland and nine lives when a boat capsized.

On August 25, Tropical Storm Chloe made landfall on British Honduras (present day Belize) as a tropical depression. After dissipating, the remnants of the storm crossed into the Pacific Ocean, where they contributed to an area of shower activity that persisted over the Gulf of Tehuantepec. On August 28, the tropical activity organized around a circulation which quickly developed into a tropical depression the same day. The depression was upgraded to a tropical storm on August 29 based on satellite presentation that depicted significant cirrus outflow and a comma–shaped cloud mass spanning 2° of latitude in diameter and was subsequently named Lily.