Track map & timeline · Eastern Pacific · October 24–30, 1981
TD TS Cat 1 2 3 4 5 · dashed = post-tropical / remnant low. Click any point or table row to jump there.
01 · The story
Hurricane Otis (1981) was a Category 1 hurricane of the 1981 Eastern Pacific season. It formed on October 24, 1981, reached its peak of 86 mph (139 km/h) on October 26, 1981, and never made landfall. The storm lasted 6.0 days and travelled about 1,144 miles (1,841 km).
02 · Intensity
03 · Impact
| City | Distance to center | When (UTC) | Storm strength then |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico | 65 mi | Oct 29 · 17:00 UTC | TS 53 mph |
| Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico | 64 mi | Oct 30 · 00:00 UTC | TS 63 mph |
Distance from the city to the storm’s center, interpolated hourly between official fixes. Damaging winds, surge and rain reach far beyond the center.
04 · Timeline
| Date · UTC | Status | Wind | Pressure | Position | Nearest place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 24 00:00 | TD | 35 mph | — | 10.7°N 98.8°W | open ocean |
| Oct 24 06:00 | TD | 35 mph | — | 11.0°N 100.3°W | open ocean |
| Oct 24 12:00 | TD | 35 mph | — | 11.2°N 101.4°W | open ocean |
| Oct 24 18:00 | TS | 40 mph | — | 11.4°N 102.0°W | open ocean |
| Oct 25 00:00 | TS | 46 mph | — | 11.9°N 102.4°W | open ocean |
| Oct 25 06:00 | TS | 52 mph | — | 12.4°N 102.6°W | open ocean |
| Oct 25 12:00 | TS | 58 mph | — | 12.8°N 102.7°W | open ocean |
| Oct 25 18:00 | TS | 58 mph | — | 13.4°N 102.5°W | open ocean |
| Oct 26 00:00 | TS | 63 mph | — | 13.7°N 102.2°W | open ocean |
| Oct 26 06:00 | TS | 69 mph | — | 14.0°N 101.9°W | open ocean |
| Oct 26 12:00 | Cat 1 | 75 mph | — | 14.0°N 101.9°W | open ocean |
| Oct 26 18:00 | Cat 1 | 86 mph | — | 14.0°N 101.9°W | open ocean |
| Oct 27 00:00 | Cat 1 | 86 mph | — | 14.0°N 101.9°W | open ocean |
| Oct 27 06:00 | Cat 1 | 81 mph | — | 14.2°N 102.2°W | open ocean |
| Oct 27 12:00 | Cat 1 | 75 mph | — | 14.5°N 102.8°W | open ocean |
| Oct 27 18:00 | Cat 1 | 75 mph | — | 14.8°N 103.5°W | open ocean |
| Oct 28 00:00 | Cat 1 | 75 mph | — | 15.1°N 104.1°W | open ocean |
| Oct 28 06:00 | Cat 1 | 81 mph | — | 15.8°N 104.8°W | open ocean |
| Oct 28 12:00 | Cat 1 | 81 mph | — | 16.7°N 105.4°W | 181 mi SSW of Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico |
| Oct 28 18:00 | Cat 1 | 81 mph | — | 17.8°N 105.6°W | 123 mi SW of Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico |
| Oct 29 00:00 | Cat 1 | 81 mph | — | 18.8°N 105.8°W | 86 mi WSW of Cihuatlán, Jalisco, Mexico |
| Oct 29 06:00 | Cat 1 | 75 mph | — | 19.8°N 105.9°W | 71 mi SW of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico |
| Oct 29 12:00 | TS | 58 mph | — | 20.7°N 105.9°W | 44 mi W of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico |
| Oct 29 18:00 | TS | 52 mph | — | 21.6°N 105.9°W | 40 mi W of San Blas, Nayarit, Mexico |
| Oct 30 00:00 | TS | 63 mph | — | 22.5°N 105.8°W | 23 mi S of Escuinapa de Hidalgo, Sinaloa, Mexico |
⬇ Download track data (CSV) · public-domain NOAA best track
Questions
No — the NOAA best-track record shows no landfall for Otis. Its closest approach to a major city was 64 miles from Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico.
At its peak on October 26, 1981, Otis was a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 86 mph (139 km/h).
6.0 days, from October 24, 1981 to October 30, 1981, including 72 hours at hurricane strength. It travelled about 1,144 miles.
The 6-hourly positions, winds, pressure and wind radii are available as CSV on this page (track.csv) — they come from the NOAA National Hurricane Center's HURDAT2 database and are in the public domain.
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