The practice of naming tropical cyclones helps track individual storms as they move across vast ocean areas. These names are drawn from rotating lists, but a name may be retired if the storm caused exceptional damage or loss of life. The name “Dora” has been assigned to multiple distinct tropical cyclones over the decades, spanning the Atlantic, Eastern Pacific, and Central Pacific ocean basins. The most recent and intense of these storms, Hurricane Dora of 2023, became notable for its extreme intensity and long track across the Pacific.
The Defining Hurricane Dora: Category and Peak Intensity
The most powerful recent storm to bear the name was Hurricane Dora in 2023, which reached its maximum strength while traversing the Eastern Pacific basin. This system achieved the status of a major hurricane, reaching peak intensity as a Category 4 storm. The National Hurricane Center estimated Dora’s maximum sustained wind speed at 150 miles per hour, placing it near the upper limit of the Category 4 classification.
This extreme wind speed was accompanied by a very low central atmospheric pressure, estimated at 939 millibars. Dora sustained this Category 4 status for an unusually long duration while moving across the open Pacific waters in August 2023. Its intensity was the result of a period of rapid intensification, where the storm’s wind speeds increased significantly over a short 48-hour period.
Path and Regional Impact of the Defining Storm
Hurricane Dora’s long-lived journey began as a tropical wave that moved off the coast of Africa and traveled across the Atlantic before crossing into the Eastern Pacific basin near Central America. The storm formed into a tropical depression on July 31, 2023, south of Manzanillo, Mexico, and rapidly strengthened as it moved westward across the Eastern Pacific. Dora then tracked into the Central Pacific basin, maintaining hurricane strength as it passed hundreds of miles south of the Hawaiian Islands.
The long-distance passage of the powerful hurricane had a significant, albeit indirect, effect on the Hawaiian Islands, particularly Maui. Dora’s intense, low-pressure system created a strong pressure gradient in conjunction with a high-pressure system located north of the islands. This tightened gradient dramatically enhanced the low-level trade winds across Hawaii, with gusts exceeding 80 miles per hour in some areas. These unusually strong and dry winds were a major contributing factor that fueled the devastating wildfires that swept through Maui in August 2023. Despite the lack of direct landfall, Dora became one of only two tropical cyclones on record to maintain hurricane strength across all three North Pacific basins—Eastern, Central, and Western—before eventually dissipating.
Other Notable Storms Named Dora
Hurricane Dora of 1964 reached its peak intensity as a Category 4 storm over the open Atlantic, with maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour. This storm is historically notable because it was the first tropical cyclone on record to make landfall on the Atlantic coast of North Florida at hurricane intensity, coming ashore near St. Augustine as a strong Category 2 storm.
Hurricane Dora of 2011 in the Eastern Pacific also attained Category 4 status. This system reached a peak wind speed of 155 miles per hour, making it a high-end Category 4 on the scale, with a minimum pressure of 929 millibars. Like many Pacific hurricanes, the 2011 Dora remained over open water and caused only minimal effects on land, mostly impacting the coast of Southwestern Mexico with rough surf and rainbands before weakening. The 1999 Eastern Pacific Hurricane Dora was also a long-lived Category 4 storm, reaching maximum winds of 140 miles per hour before crossing into the Central Pacific, generating high surf near Hawaii.
Understanding Hurricane Categorization
The intensity of a hurricane is classified using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which estimates the potential for property damage based exclusively on a storm’s maximum sustained wind speed. This scale separates tropical cyclones that reach hurricane status into five distinct categories.
The scale begins with Category 1, which includes storms with sustained wind speeds ranging from 74 to 95 miles per hour. Storms classified as Category 2 have wind speeds between 96 and 110 miles per hour, which can cause considerable damage. A Category 3 hurricane is defined by wind speeds from 111 to 129 miles per hour and is the minimum threshold for a “major” hurricane due to its potential for devastating damage. The higher end of the scale includes Category 4 storms, which feature wind speeds from 130 to 156 miles per hour, capable of catastrophic damage. The most intense hurricanes are designated Category 5, which encompasses any storm with sustained wind speeds of 157 miles per hour or higher.