page_title: Hurricane Felicia (2009)
section_title: Meteorological history
hierarchical_section_title: Hurricane Felicia (2009) / Meteorological history
caption_attribution_description: English: Hurricane Felicia and Tropical Storm Enrique
context_page_description: Hurricane Felicia was the third strongest tropical cyclone of the 2009 Pacific hurricane season, as well as the strongest storm to exist in the eastern Pacific at the time since Hurricane Daniel in 2006. Forming as a tropical depression on August 3, the storm supported strong thunderstorm activity and quickly organized. It became a tropical storm over the following day, and subsequently underwent rapid deepening to attain hurricane status. Later that afternoon, Felicia featured a well-defined eye as its winds sharply rose to major hurricane-force on the Saffir–Simpson scale. Further strengthening ensued, and Felicia peaked in intensity as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 145 mph and a barometric pressure of 935 mbar. After reaching this strength, unfavorable conditions, such as wind shear, began to impact the storm while it took on a northwestward path. Henceforth, Felicia slowly weakened for several days; by August 8 it had been downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane, once again becoming a tropical storm the next day. It retraced westward towards Hawaii on August 10, all the while decreasing in organization.
context_section_description: Hurricane Felicia originated from a tropical wave that moved off the west coast of Africa into the Atlantic Ocean on July 23, 2009. A weak system, the wave was barely identifiable as it tracked westward. By July 26, the wave entered the Caribbean Sea before crossing Central America and entering the eastern Pacific basin on July 29. The system remained ill-defined until August 1, at which time convection began to increase and the wave showed signs of organization. The storm gradually became better organized as it tracked generally towards the west. By August 3, the system became increasingly organized and around 11:00 am PDT (1800 UTC), the National Hurricane Center (NHC) designated the system as Tropical Depression Eight-E. Convective banding features and poleward outflow were being enhanced by the nearby Tropical Storm Enrique. The main steering component of the depression was an upper-level low located to the north, causing the depression to track generally west before turning northwest after the low weakened.
  By the early morning hours of August 4, the NHC upgraded Tropical Depression Eight-E to Tropical Storm Felicia, the seventh named storm of the season. Located within an area of low wind shear and high sea surface temperatures, averaging between 28 and 29 °C (82 and 84 °F), the storm quickly developed, with deep convection persisting around the center of circulation. These conditions were anticipated to persist for at least three days; however, there was an increased amount of uncertainty due to possible interaction with Tropical Storm Enrique. Several hours later, the storm began to undergo rapid intensification, following the formation of an eye. Around 2:00 pm PDT (2100 UTC), Felicia intensified into a hurricane.
  Late on August 4, the intensity of Felicia led to it taking a more northward turn in response to a mid- to upper-level trough off the coast of the Western United States. Early the next morning, the storm continued to intensify and attained Category 3 status with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h). Maintaining a well-defined eye, Felicia neared Category 4 status and hours later, the storm attained winds of 140 mph (220 km/h) and a pressure of 937 mbar (hPa; 27.67 inHg) during the evening hours, making it the strongest Pacific storm east of the International Date Line since Hurricane Ioke in 2006 and the strongest in the eastern Pacific basin since Hurricane Daniel of 2006. Around 5:00 pm PDT (0000 UTC August 6) Felicia reached its peak intensity with winds of 145 mph (230 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 935 mbar (hPa; 27.61 inHg).
  After slightly weakening throughout the day on August 6, Felicia leveled out with winds of 135 mph (215 km/h) and a 23 mi (37 km) wide eye as the storm developed characteristics of an annular hurricane, which would allow Felicia to maintain a high intensity over marginally warm waters. Early the next day, the structure of the hurricane quickly deteriorated as convection became asymmetric and cloud tops warmed significantly. This marked a quick drop in intensity of the storm to a minimal Category 3 hurricane. Several hours later, the mid-level circulation began to separate from the low-level circulation and the overall size of the storm decreased. By this time, the storm began to take a long-anticipated westward turn towards Hawaii. After briefly re-intensifying on August 7, Felicia weakened to a Category 1 hurricane early on August 8. Around 11:00 am HST (2100 UTC), the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) took over responsibility of issuing advisories as Felicia crossed longitude 140°W.
  By August 9, increasing wind shear further weakened the storm, with Felicia being downgraded to a tropical storm early that day. The storm rapidly weakened throughout the day as convection gradually dissipated around the center due to the shear. By the late morning hours, little convective activity remained around the low pressure center of Felicia. A weak cyclone, the storm continued to track towards Hawaii with the only deep convection associated with it being displaced to the northeast 
caption: Hurricane Felicia (left) and Tropical Storm Enrique (right) on August 5
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