Hurricane Nora (1997)

Hurricane Nora

Category 4 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Hurricane Nora shortly after peak intensity on September 22, 1997
Formed	September 16, 1997
Dissipated	September 26, 1997
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 130 mph (215 km/h)
Lowest pressure	950 mbar (hPa); 28.05 inHg
Fatalities	2 direct, 4 indirect
Damage	$100 million (1997 USD)
Areas affected	Baja California, Southwestern United States
Part of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season

Hurricane Nora was only the third tropical cyclone on record to reach Arizona as a tropical storm. Nora was the fourteenth named tropical cyclone and seventh hurricane of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season. The September storm formed off the Pacific coast of Mexico, and aided by waters warmed by the 1997–98 El Niño event, eventually peaked at Category 4 intensity on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale.

Nora took an unusual path, making landfall twice as a hurricane in Baja California. Weakening quickly after landfall, its remnants lashed the Southwestern United States with tropical-storm-force winds, torrential rain and flooding. The storm was blamed for two direct casualties in Mexico, as well as substantial beach erosion on the Mexican coast, flash flooding in Baja California, and record precipitation in Arizona. It persisted far inland and eventually dissipated near the Arizona–Nevada border.

Nora formed early on September 16, 1997, while located 290 miles (460 km) southwest of the Mexican port of Acapulco, Guerrero, from the same tropical wave that had earlier created Hurricane Erika. Due to favorable conditions associated with El Niño, the tropical disturbance quickly achieved deep convection and became well-organized. By 6 a.m. UTC, the U.S. National Hurricane Center had designated the disturbance as Tropical Depression Sixteen-E. Half a day later, it had gained enough strength to be named Tropical Storm Nora.