# Tropical Storm Erick (2007)

Tropical Storm Erick was the eighth tropical cyclone of the 2007 Pacific hurricane season, and the fifth to reach tropical storm status. Erick originated from a tropical wave that left the coast of Africa, traveled west, crossed the entire Atlantic Ocean, and reached the Pacific without any development. The wave generated a small low-pressure system on July 28, which matured into a tropical depression later that day, despite strong shear winds in the region. The depression intensified into a tropical storm and was named Erick as it continued its westward trajectory. However, the shear prevented the storm from intensifying further and its structure deteriorated over the course of a few days. The cyclone weakened to tropical depression level and degenerated, resulting shortly afterward in a remnant low-pressure area. The storm stayed away from coastal areas and no material damage or fatalities associated with Erick have been reported.

## Meteorological history

In mid-July 2007, a tropical wave emerged from the coast of Africa and began a westward journey across the Atlantic Ocean. On July 22, the wave passed through the Lesser Antilles with disorganized activity with localized intensity. The wave crossed Central America three days later and entered the eastern portion of the Pacific Ocean, where it later gave rise to a small area of low pressure. The shear winds prevented the development of tropical cyclogenesis for a few days, leaving the area of atmospheric convection separated from the low pressure. Convection began to form near the center of the storm, and the system became sufficiently organized to be designated Tropical Depression Eight-E by the National Hurricane Center in Miami on July 31. At this point, the depression was located 1,700 km southwest of the southern tip of the Mexican state of Baja California.
Convection remained concentrated in the western part of the storm because of shear and the presence of dry air. Estimates made by the Dvorak technique showed that the storm's winds had increased in speed, so the depression was upgraded to a tropical storm and was named Erick 12 hours later, at 00:00 UTC on August 1; it thus became the fifth named storm of the 2007 Pacific hurricane season. At the time of its update, storm Erick reached its peak winds, with speeds of 65 km/h and a minimum central pressure of 1 004 mbar. The wind shear persisted, and the cyclone exhibited a structure without well-defined banding features. The exact position of the center of circulation was unclear, but forecasters estimated that the storm was tracking westward at around 17 km/h under the direction of mid-level ridge currents situated to the north of the system. Later, on August 1, the strong shear separated from the center of the area of declining convective activity, indicating that the storm was deteriorating. Weakened, Erick was re-designated as a tropical depression on August 2, 24 hours after becoming a tropical storm.
The low-level center then became elongated and less organized; the depression continued to weaken rapidly, and degenerated back to tropical wave status on August 2, thousands of kilometers from a coastal region. A weak low-pressure system formed alongside the wave, but failed to reorganize into a tropical cyclone once it entered the northern Central Pacific. On August 5, the low-level remnants of Tropical Storm Erick passed south of Hawaii without having any effect on the archipelago. The phenomenon dissipated completely on August 8. According to the Tropical Cyclone Report, the National Hurricane Center noted challenges in accurately predicting Erick's evolution. The storm developed with minimal precursor indicators and dissipated similarly.

## Impact

Because Erick remained, in the words of meteorologist Richard Pasch, distant from any landmasses, no damage, material loss, or fatalities were reported. In addition, no ships reported tropical storm force winds associated with the phenomenon, and there were no tropical cyclone alerts or warnings issued by authorities. Throughout its course, Erick primarily affected shipping lanes, with no significant impacts reported on land.