Hurricane Linda (1997)

Hurricane Linda

Category 5 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Satellite image of Hurricane Linda reaching peak intensity, off the southwest coast of Mexico
Formed	September 9, 1997
Dissipated	September 21, 1997
(Remnant low after September 17)
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 185 mph (295 km/h)
Lowest pressure	902 mbar (hPa); 26.64 inHg (Second lowest in the Eastern Pacific)
Fatalities	None
Damage	$3.2 million (1997 USD)
Areas affected	Socorro Island, southwestern Mexico, southern California
Part of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season

Hurricane Linda was the second-strongest eastern Pacific hurricane on record. Forming from a tropical wave on September 9, 1997, Linda steadily intensified and reached hurricane status within 36 hours of developing. It rapidly intensified, reaching winds of 185 mph (295 km/h) and an estimated central pressure falling to 902 millibars (26.6 inHg); both were records for the eastern Pacific until Hurricane Patricia surpassed it in 2015. The hurricane was briefly forecast to move toward southern California, but instead, it turned out to sea and dissipated on September 17. It was the fifteenth tropical cyclone, thirteenth named storm, seventh hurricane, and fifth major hurricane of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season.

While near peak intensity, Hurricane Linda passed near Socorro Island, where it damaged meteorological instruments. The hurricane produced high waves along the southwestern Mexican coastline, forcing the closure of five ports. If Linda had made landfall on southern California as predicted, it would have been the strongest storm to do so since a storm in 1939. Though it did not hit the state, the hurricane produced light to moderate rainfall across the region, causing mudslides and flooding in the San Gorgonio Wilderness; two houses were destroyed and 77 others were damaged, and damage totaled $3.2 million (1997 USD, $4.3 million 2008 USD). Despite the intensity, the name was not retired.

The origins of Hurricane Linda are believed to have been in a tropical wave that moved off the coast of Africa on August 24. The wave tracked westward across the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea without development. An area of convection developed to the west of Panama in the Pacific Ocean on September 6, which is believed to have been related to the tropical wave. The system continued westward, and within three days of entering the basin, a poorly defined circulation formed. Banding features began to develop, and at around 1200 UTC on September 9, the system organized into Tropical Depression Fourteen-E. At the time, it was approximately 460 miles (740 km) south of the Mexican city of Manzanillo.