Hurricane Howard Eastern Pacific August 30 - Sept 5, 2004

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