First April Tropical Depression on Record Formed in the Eastern Pacific Ocean Well South of Baja California (RECAP)

The tropical depression tracked northwestward and did not threaten any land areas.

Dry air wrapped into this system on April 26 and conditions became unfavorable for further development.

Tropical Depression One-E degenerated into a remnant low-pressure system by the afternoon of April 26.

A First for April

This system was the first April tropical depression on record in the Eastern Pacific Basin in reliable records since weather satellites began regularly watching the tropics in the late 1960s.

Previously, the earliest Eastern Pacific tropical depression or storm occurred just three years prior, when Tropical Storm Adrian formed off the coast of El Salvador and Guatemala on May 9, 2017.

The next May, Tropical Depression One-E formed well southwest of Los Cabos, Mexico, on May 10, 2018.

Colorado State University tropical scientist Dr. Phil Klotzbach noted in 2017 that there appeared to be no significant long-term trend in the date the first Eastern Pacific named storm formed.

In 2019, the A storm, Hurricane Alvin, didn't first become a tropical storm until June 26, over two weeks after the average date the first named storm forms, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Since 2000, 21 named storms have developed in May in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, an average of at least one each May. Nine of those storms became hurricanes.

The last time Amanda was used in the Eastern Pacific Ocean was also noteworthy.

Hurricane Amanda in 2014 was the strongest May hurricane on record in either the Eastern Pacific or Atlantic basins, reaching peak estimated intensity of 155 mph, just shy of Category 5.

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