After weakening slightly inland, Paul briefly reemerged over water and subsequently made its final landfall near Los Mochis, Sinaloa with winds of 100 mph (165 km/h). From 1800 to 2100 UTC on September 29, the eye of the hurricane made landfall along Baja California Sur, moving ashore less than 100 mi (160 km) south of La Paz near San José del Cabo. An upper-level trough forced the hurricane to accelerate towards the northeast, at which point it had reached peak wind speeds of 110 mph (180 km/h). As the storm neared Baja California Sur, it reached Category 2 intensity. Upon becoming a hurricane, Paul turned to the north and continued to develop. This allowed it to reach Category 1 hurricane strength on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHWS) just two days after its naming. Since it was then situated over favorable sea surface temperatures between 28 ☌ (82 ☏) and 29 ☌ (84 ☏), Paul underwent a phase of rapid intensification. It gradually organized into a tropical storm at 0000 UTC September 25. After briefly drifting northward, the system began tracking toward the west-northwest. Its forward motion remained relatively unchanged for several days, and by September 24 the system was reclassified as a tropical cyclone. Though it was reconsidered a tropical cyclone, its wind circulation was poorly defined the depression again degenerated into an open trough at 0000 UTC September 22. Advisories on the system were resumed late on September 20. Under the influence of a persistent stationary trough near California, the remains of the depression retraced westward back over the open waters of the Pacific. It then moved inland near the El Salvador–Guatemala border, and dissipated overland. The depression turned northward in response to a weak steering flow between two high pressure systems-one near Cabo San Lucas and the other west of Central America. At that time, it was located 200 mi (320 km) southwest of Tegucigalpa,Honduras and supported winds of 35 mph (50 km/h). Several days later, satellite imagery indicated it had developed a center of cyclonic circulation on 1800 UTC September 20, the Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center initiated advisories on the system and classified it as Tropical Depression Twenty-Two. The precursor disturbance to Paul originated from an area of low barometric pressure and disorganized thunderstorms, which was first noted near the Pacific coast of Honduras on September 15. Despite the cataclysmic loss of life and major damage caused by the storm, the name Paul was not retired following the season and, although it went unused in 1988 due to a lack of activity, it was used in the 1994 Pacific hurricane season.Įxtratropical cyclone / Remnant low / Tropical disturbance / Monsoon depression In addition, Paul was responsible for 24 fatalities and moderate damage in northwestern Mexico, where it made landfall at hurricane strength. Another 225 deaths were attributed to floods from the depression in southern Mexico. Throughout Central America, at least 1,363 people were killed, with most of the fatalities occurring in El Salvador, although some occurred in Guatemala. Many rivers in the region burst their banks after five days of rainfall, causing severe flooding and multiple mudslides. Prior to making landfall near the El Salvador– Guatemala border as a tropical depression, the precursor disturbance dropped heavy rainfall over the region, which later continued after landfall. Paul made landfall over Baja California Sur on September 29, and subsequently moved ashore in Sinaloa the next day. The hurricane then accelerated toward the northeast, reaching peak winds of 110 mph (175 km/h). Two days later, Paul attained hurricane status, and further strengthened to Category 2 intensity after turning northward. The storm changed little in strength for several days until September 25, when it slowly intensified into a tropical storm. The depression briefly moved inland two days later just before heading westward out to sea. The sixteenth named storm and tenth hurricane of the 1982 Pacific hurricane season, Paul developed as a tropical depression just offshore Central America on September 18. Hurricane Paul was a particularly deadly and destructive Pacific hurricane which killed a total of 1,625 people and caused US$520 million in damage. Part of the 1982 Pacific hurricane season Guatemala, El Salvador, Baja California, Northwest Mexico, United States Hurricane Paul at peak intensity prior to landfall on the Baja Peninsula on September 28

Nws el paso weather calculator