page_title: 2005 Pacific hurricane season
section_title: Seasonal summary
hierarchical_section_title: 2005 Pacific hurricane season / Seasonal summary
caption_attribution_description: This unusual mosiac of storms shows three well-formed tropical storms in the eastern Pacific off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. They are, from left to right, Hurricane Jova, Hurricane Kenneth, and Tropical Storm Max. Also shown is an intensifying tropical depression which later developed into Tropical Storm Norma, though it had not quite earned the name at the time the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) made this series of observations. None of the storms are predicted to affect land. The mosaic combines observations spanning the eastern Pacific from Mexico almost all the way to Hawaii. It was created by merging data obtained by both the Terra and Aqua MODIS instruments from two seperate satellite passes each. Small gray gaps show where the MODIS swaths did not quite overlap. These data were obtained by the two MODIS instruments on September 21, 2005, between 11:25 a.m. and 2:35 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. The high resolution image linked to above is at 500 meter resolution.
context_page_description: The 2005 Pacific hurricane season continued the trend of generally below-average activity that began a decade prior. The season officially began on May 15 in the eastern Pacific, and on June 1 in the central Pacific; it lasted until November 30 in both basins. These dates conventionally delimit the period during each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. Activity began with the formation of Hurricane Adrian, the fourth-earliest-forming tropical storm on record in the basin at the time. Adrian led to flash flooding and several landslides across Central America, resulting in five deaths and $12 million in damage. Tropical storms Calvin and Dora caused minor damage along the coastline, while Tropical Storm Eugene led to one death in Acapulco. In early October, Otis produced tropical storm-force winds and minor flooding across the Baja California peninsula. The remnants of Tropical Depression One-C in the central Pacific, meanwhile, caused minor impacts in Hawaii. The strongest storm of the season was Hurricane Kenneth, which attained peak winds of 130 mph over the open Pacific.
context_section_description: The season's first tropical cyclone, Adrian, developed on May 17 and reached its peak as a Category 1 hurricane. Named storms are infrequent in May, with one tropical storm every two years and a hurricane once every four years. At the time, Adrian was the fourth earliest tropical cyclone to form in the eastern Pacific since reliable record-keeping began in 1971. Activity throughout the remainder of the season was far less notable, with 16 tropical cyclones, 15 named storms, 7 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes. The long-term 1971–2004 average suggests an average season to feature 15 named storms, 9 hurricanes, and 4 major hurricanes. October in particular was notably quiet, with the formation of only one tropical depression; only three other seasons, 1989, 1995, and 1996, ended the month without the designation of a named storm.
  Overall wind energy output was reflected with an Accumulated cyclone energy index value of 75 units, or about 66% of the long-term mean of 114 units, highlighting the generally weak and short-lived nature of tropical activity across the basin; at the time, this was the ninth lowest value on record. Analysis of the environment suggested that most storms formed during the passage of the positive Madden–Julian oscillation and its associated upper-air divergence, which is favorable for tropical cyclone formation. Extended reprieves in tropical activity were connected to upper-level convergence. Another factor that led to a below-average season was the presence of cooler than average ocean temperatures during the peak months, helping to extend the period of lesser activity that began throughout the eastern Pacific around 1995. The 2005 became a record-tying most active in the month between 1966, 1992, 1994, 1997, later in 2019 forming six named storms in the basin
caption: Three simultaneous tropical cyclones existed on September 22. Jova, Kenneth and Max
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