Record setting Hurricane:
Amanda became the strongest May eastern Pacific hurricane on record Sunday morning as peak winds approached that of a Category 5 hurricane.
Amanda’s maximum sustained winds increased to near 155 mph and its central pressure dropped to 932 millibars by 11 a.m. PDT Sunday, meaning Amanda was a very powerful Category 4 hurricane.
Amanda has weakened some from its peak strength, now a Category 3 storm, and continues to move slowly northward over the eastern Pacific.
Adolph from 2001 originally held the distinction of strongest May hurricane in the basin. At the peak of Adolph’s intensity, the central pressure bottomed out at 940 millibars and winds were nearly 145 mph.
Amanda is also the earliest Category 4 hurricane in the eastern Pacific, ahead of Hurricane Adolph in 2001, and the second earliest major eastern Pacific hurricane on record, behind Hurricane Bud in 2012.
Adolph reached Category 4 strength on May 28, 2001.
It is unusual, in terms of climatology, to have a minimal hurricane form in the eastern Pacific in May, let alone a strong Category 4 hurricane.
Maximum sustained winds within a Category 4 hurricane range from 130 to 156 mph. On average, it takes until June 26 for the first hurricane to form in the eastern Pacific. The first major hurricane of the season typically does not form in the eastern Pacific until July 19.
There has never been a Category 5 hurricane in the eastern Pacific during May.
No hurricanes in the Atlantic have reached Category 4 strength in May. Audrey, from late June 1957, holds the record for the Atlantic’s earliest Category 4 hurricane.