Portal:Tropical cyclones/Featured article/Unnamed hurricane (1975)



The 1975 unnamed hurricane was an unusual Pacific tropical cyclone that attained hurricane status farther north than any other Pacific hurricane. The twelfth tropical cyclone of the 1975 Pacific hurricane season, it developed from a cold-core upper-level low merging with the remnants of a tropical cyclone on August 31, well to the northeast of Hawaii. Convection increased as the circulation became better defined, and by early on September 2 it became a tropical storm. Turning to the northeast through an area of warm water temperatures, the storm quickly strengthened, and, after developing an eye, it attained hurricane status late on September 3, while located about 1200 miles (1900 km) south of Alaska. After maintaining peak winds for about 18 hours, the storm rapidly weakened, as it interacted with an approaching cold front. Early on September 5, it lost its identity near the coast of Alaska.

Forming at 31° N, the storm formed farther north than any other Pacific tropical cyclone at the time, though, in 2000, Tropical Storm Wene formed farther to the north. The cyclone marked the first known occurrence of a mid-Pacific upper tropospheric low developing into a tropical cyclone, though Tropical Storm Fausto in 2002 redeveloped in a similar occurrence to the hurricane. The cyclone attained hurricane status at 40° N, a record for a Pacific hurricane. Only Tropical Storm Dot in 1970, Hurricane John in 1994, Tropical Depression Guillermo in 1997, and Tropical Storm Wene in 2000 were tropical cyclones north of the latitude, of which only John was a hurricane; none maintained tropical cyclone status further north than the cyclone.

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