&sq=&lang=&file=File:Nora_1997-09-21_1630Z.png) Nora shortly after peak intensity on 21 September | |
| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 16 September 1997 |
| Dissipated | 26 September 1997 |
| Category 4 major hurricane | |
| 1-minute sustained (SSHWS/NWS) | |
| Highest winds | 130 mph (215 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 950 mbar (hPa); 28.05 inHg |
| Overall effects | |
| Fatalities | 6 |
| Damage | $155 million (1997 USD) |
| Areas affected | Baja California, Western United States |
| IBTrACS | |
Part of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season | |
Hurricane Nora was the first tropical cyclone to enter the Continental United States from the Pacific Ocean since Hurricane Lester in 1992. Nora was the fourteenth named tropical cyclone and the seventh hurricane of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season. The September storm formed off the Pacific coast of Mexico, and aided by waters warmed by the 1997–98 El Niño event, eventually peaked at Category 4 intensity on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale.
Nora took an unusual path, making landfall twice as a hurricane in the Baja California Peninsula. Weakening quickly after landfall, it lashed the Southwestern United States with tropical storm-force winds, torrential rain, and flooding before becoming a remnant low. The storm was blamed for two direct casualties in Mexico, as well as substantial beach erosion on the Mexican coast, flash flooding in Baja California, and record precipitation in Arizona. It persisted far inland and eventually dissipated near the Arizona–Nevada border.
The system that was to become Hurricane Nora was likely related to a tropical wave, that had moved off the coast of Africa at the end of August 1997 and entered the Pacific Ocean during 12 September. After entering the Pacific Ocean, the wave encountered a favorable environment for tropical cyclogenesis, which caused the system to become better organized and develop into Tropical Storm Nora on 16 September. Over the next couple of days, the system continued to become better organized as it slowly moved north-westwards over the Pacific Ocean away from southwestern Mexico and intensified into a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale during 18 September. The steering currents subsequently became weak or balanced over the hurricane which caused the system to become near-stationary and weaken into a Category 1 hurricane.
Nora impacted the majority of Mexico's Pacific-facing coasts including the states of Baja California, Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Sinaloa and Sonora.