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Historical Data: Max Winds 120 Category
4 Hurricane
Tracking Info
Information on Hurricane Howard.
Hurricane Howard was born about 500 miles south of the tip of Baja in water
about 2°C above normal. The storm was held to the west of Baja by a
subtropical ridge which forced the storm westward. Maximum wind speeds were
120kts making Howard a category 4 storm.
Howard never made landfall. No deaths were reported.
Hurricane Francis, hitting Florida at the same time, seem to be keeping NHC forecasters
busy, shortening scheduled Eastern Pacific reports on Howard and causing
delays for as much as 45
minutes. Due to traffic to the NHC and Unisys websites they reduced the
quality of images and caused delays in the load time of many of
satellite images across the internet and on this website.
 Howard
became a hurricane at 2AM MDT on 9/1, and was upgraded to category 2 at 2AM
MDT 9/2. The 11AM MDT 9/2 forecast heightened Howard to a category 4 storm with
sustained winds of 120kts and a central barometric pressure of 940mb. For
the next 8 hrs the storm remained strong, but by the morning of 9/3 Howard
had begun to lose steam. On the morning of 9/4 Howard was over water below
the 24° Isotherm and degrading rapidly. By Monday Howard will be nothing
more than a good rainstorm.
 The tropical ridge that had kept the storm on a westerly track weakened on
Thursday and
allowed the storm to move on a more northerly course.
Howard
has past it's peaked and continued to lose energy as it moved north into
colder waters. The most recent forecast has the storm turning more to the
west and dissipating in the next 72 hrs without making landfall.
Current forecasts do not predict a hurricane force strike anywhere in Baja
from Howard.
Baja Sur has been experienced heavy localized rains from moisture drawn
from the mainland by Howard's influence. A very heavy band of
rain passed through northern Baja Sur from Magdalena Bay to Santa Rosalia on
Friday evening.
Some
parts of Hwy 1 were affected.
Localized flooding and
temporary road closures can result from these rain squalls.
Drivers in Baja Sur
should exercise
caution when driving in rains or at night. Flooding of roadways can occur as
a result of heavy rains miles away from the highway.
Click here for NHC warnings and more
satellite imagery for this storm.
Click here for current condition in Baja
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