&sq=Envato&lang=en&file=File:Kiko_1989-08-27_0000Z.png) Hurricane Kiko at peak intensity just south of the Baja Peninsula on August 27 | |
| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Formed | August 25, 1989 |
| Dissipated | August 29, 1989 |
| Category 3 major hurricane | |
| 1-minute sustained (SSHWS/NWS) | |
| Highest winds | 120 mph (195 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 955 mbar (hPa); 28.20 inHg |
| Overall effects | |
| Fatalities | None |
| Areas affected | Baja California Sur and Western Mexico |
| IBTrACS | |
Part of the 1989 Pacific hurricane season | |
Hurricane Kiko was one of the strongest tropical cyclones on record to have made landfall on Mexico's Baja California peninsula. The eleventh named storm of the 1989 Pacific hurricane season, Kiko formed out of a large mesoscale convective system on August 25. Slowly tracking northwestward, the storm rapidly intensified into a hurricane early the next day. Strengthening continued until early August 27, when Kiko reached its peak intensity with winds of 120 mph (190 km/h). The storm turned west at this time, and at around 0600 UTC, the storm made landfall near Punta Arena, Mexico at the southern tip of Baja California Sur. The hurricane rapidly weakened into a tropical storm later that day and further into a tropical depression by August 28, shortly after entering the Pacific Ocean. The depression persisted for another day while tracking southward, before being absorbed by nearby Tropical Storm Lorena. Though Kiko made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane, its impact was relatively minor. Press reports indicated that 20 homes were destroyed and numerous highways were flooded by torrential rains.