Tropical Storm Aletta or Hurricane Aletta 2012

When the first tropical cyclone in the Eastern Pacific forms it will be named Tropical Storm Aletta . We will post continuing updates to this page as the system may develop into Tropical Storm Aletta or Hurricane Aletta .

The Eastern Pacific Hurricane Season begins May 15, 2012 and the basin usually has development of the first tropical cyclone in the third week of May. These systems form well south of the Baja peninsula..

Although tropical cyclones have threatened Baja in July, the earliest tropical cyclone to make landfall in Baja is July 22. Our usual threat period is August 15 to October 15, with the last week of August and first week of September being the peak period of the last 15 years.

2012 is in a moderate La Nina year in the EL NIÑO/SOUTHERN OSCILLATION (ENSO). Usually, during La Nina years both the Eastern Pacific as a whole and the Baja peninsula specifically, experience fewer tropical cyclones. However, we escaped the landfall of a tropical cyclone in the 2011 season. It is statistically unlikely that we will have the same luck this year.

During the early season we will update information to our individual tropical cyclone pages every 24hrs. During the Baja Hurricane Season (Aug. 15-Oct. 15) we will update our information every 6hrs. When storms specifically threaten the Baja peninsula we will update our information as released from the National Hurricane Center as well as our other sources.

The BajaInsider provides the only on-the-scene coverage of tropical cyclones from Cabo San Lucas, East Cape and La Paz. We also provide reader forums to provide on the scene reports from our readers.

This will be our eighth season of providing accurate and sensible coverage of the Baja tropical cyclone threat. Bookmark this page for future reference.

East Eastern Pacific IR Satellite Image
(Click to Enlarge)