Landfalling tropical cyclones in the Eastern Pacific (EPAC) basin

This fact sheet describes a project led by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) to improve the prediction and historical understanding of landfalling tropical cyclones in the Eastern Pacific (EPAC) basin, focusing on historical reconstruction, lightning patterns, and high-resolution modeling.

• The project aims to extend the reconstructed historical record of landfalling cyclones to span from 1500 to the present, although reconstruction back to 1750 has proven difficult and may be more valuable for anthropological and historical research than for climatology.
• Research into lightning distribution shows that cyclones moving westward have lower lightning rates concentrated in the inner core (within 100 km radius), whereas those that re-curve and make landfall exhibit more lightning in the outer bands (300 to 400 km from the eye) and in the quadrant nearest to land.
• Unlike cyclones in the North Atlantic basin, the spatial distribution of lightning in the Eastern Pacific does not seem to be organized by the shear vector.
• Initial simulations using the HWRF model at 3-km resolution show that significant errors persist regarding intensity, track, and the specific landfall location along the coast.

APA

de Raga, G. B., Molina, L. M. F., Appendini, C., García-Acosta, V., Lozoya, R. P., Marín, J., Abarca, S., Rivera-Monroy, V., & Pérez, J. (2013). Landfalling tropical cyclones in the Eastern Pacific (EPAC) basin. Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. https://iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/uploads/2014/03/CRA_2048.pdf

Chicago

de Raga, Graciela Binimelis, Luis M. Farfán Molina, Christian Appendini, Virginia García-Acosta, Raymundo Padilla Lozoya, Julio Marín, Sergio Abarca, Victor Rivera-Monroy, and Joel Pérez. Landfalling tropical cyclones in the Eastern Pacific (EPAC) basin. Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, 2013. https://iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/uploads/2014/03/CRA_2048.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=de Raga |first1=Graciela Binimelis |last2=Molina |first2=Luis M. Farfán |last3=Appendini |first3=Christian |last4=García-Acosta |first4=Virginia |last5=Lozoya |first5=Raymundo Padilla |last6=Marín |first6=Julio |last7=Abarca |first7=Sergio |last8=Rivera-Monroy |first8=Victor |last9=Pérez |first9=Joel |title=Landfalling tropical cyclones in the Eastern Pacific (EPAC) basin |publisher=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |date=February 2013 |url=https://iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/uploads/2014/03/CRA_2048.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{deraga2013landfalling, author = {de Raga, Graciela Binimelis and Molina, Luis M. Farfán and Appendini, Christian and García-Acosta, Virginia and Lozoya, Raymundo Padilla and Marín, Julio and Abarca, Sergio and Rivera-Monroy, Victor and Pérez, Joel}, title = {{Landfalling tropical cyclones in the Eastern Pacific (EPAC) basin}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2013}, month = feb, url = {https://iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/uploads/2014/03/CRA_2048.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }