1981 Pacific hurricane season

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**1981 Pacific hurricane season**
First storm formed:	May 30, 1981
Last storm dissipated:	October 30, 1981
Strongest storm:	Norma - 110 knots
Total storms:	15
Major storms (Cat. 3+):	1
Total damage:	134+ million
Total fatalities:	79+

Pacific hurricane seasons 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983

The 1981 Pacific hurricane season officially started May 15, 1981 in the eastern Pacific, and June 1, 1981 in the central Pacific, and lasted until November 30, 1981. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northeastern Pacific Ocean.

1 Storms
2 1981 storm names
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Storms

Activity this season was about average. There were fifteen named storms, eight hurricanes, and one major hurricane that reached Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. No storms formed in the central Pacific. There are also at least two tropical depressions that did not strengthen into storms.

[edit] Tropical Storm Adrian

Adrian made landfall in Oaxaca as a depression on June 4. It dissipated shortly thereafter.

[edit] Tropical Storm Calvin

Calvin briefly threatened Baja California Sur.

[edit] Tropical Storm Irwin

Irwin made landfall in Baja California Sur as a depression. It crossed the southern tip of the peninsula and dissipated in the open sea.

[edit] Hurricane Jova

Jova started out as Tropical Depression Twelve-E. After crossing into the central Pacific at Category 1 intensity, it approached the Hawaiian Islands. It turned north and rapidly decayed. Its only effect on the Hawaiian Islands was to disrupt the trade winds, which caused an increase in humidity.

[edit] Tropical Storm Knut

Knut made landfall near Mazatlan on September 21 and dissipated shortly after that.

[edit] Tropical Storm Lidia

On October 6, a tropical depression formed and strengthened into a tropical storm 6 hours later. Lidia brushed the Gulf of California coast of Baja California Sur and made landfall 60 miles north of Mazatlan in Sinaloa on October 8. Lidia rapidly weakened and dissipated October 6.

Lidia brought extremely heavy rains. Low-lying areas were swamped with floods, which burst two dams. A total of seventy-three deaths were reported, mostly due to drowning. Eleven of the deaths occurred in Culiacan. Many of the deaths were in rural areas.

[edit] Hurricane Norma

A tropical depression organized on October 8. The next day, it strengthened into a tropical storm and later a hurricane. Norma moved slowly to the northwest and strengthened into a Category 3 major hurricane, which made it the strongest storm of the year. The storm recurved and accelerated to the northeast on October 11 and weakened to a Category 2. The next day, Norma made landfall near Mazatlan on October 12 and lost tropical characteristics. The hurricane's remnants kept moving northeastward and entered the United States. They crossed central Texas before finally dissipating.

Despite being significantly stronger than Lidia, Norma caused only one death when fisherman drowned when his boat capsized in the storm. The low death toll is likely due to evacuations. Antonio Toledo Corro, the Governor of Sinaloa, declared a state of emergency.

The hurricane caused more devastation in the flood-ravaged region. Agriculture was disrupted, and cattle were killed. Norma caused 84 million (1981 USD) dollars of damage in Mexico combined with Lidia.

In the United States, winds caused damage near Dallas-Fort Worth. Five people drowned in Tarrant County because of freshwater flooding. There were several weak tornadoes. Damage totaled 50 million dollars in Texas.

[edit] Hurricane Otis

The parade of landfalls close to Mazatlan ended with Otis. After taking a somewhat erratic path and brushing the coast of Jalisco, Otis made landfall near Mazatlan as a tropical storm and dissipated October 30.

[edit] 1981 storm names

The following names were used for named storms that formed in the eastern Pacific in 1981. No names were retired, so it was used again in the 1987 season. This is the first time these names have been used since the modern naming system began. Names that were not assigned are marked in gray.

Adrian
Beatriz
Calvin
Dora
Eugene
Fernanda
Greg

Hilary
Irwin
Jova
Knut
Lidia
Max
Norma

Otis
Pilar (unused)
Ramon (unused)
Selma (unused)
Todd (unused)
Veronica (unused)
Wiley (unused)

The central Pacific used names and numbers from the western Pacific's typhoon list. No names or numbers were used. This is the last season to use that scheme. Next year, a new list of Hawaiian names was utilized for the first time.