Boris (2008)

An area of disturbed weather that originated from an African easterly wave entered the eastern Pacific on 22 June 2008 and developed into Tropical Depression Two on 27 June about 525 nautical miles south‑southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. The system moved generally west to west‑northwest beneath a ridge of high pressure. It became Tropical Storm Boris later on 27 June, strengthened to near hurricane strength by 30 June, became a hurricane on 1 July, briefly weakened, re‑strengthened to its peak on 2 July, and then rapidly lost deep convection and weakened to a remnant low by 4 July. The remnant low moved westward and dissipated by 6 July well west of the southern tip of Baja California.

Boris remained far offshore of mainland Mexico and did not make any landfalls. Its track stayed over open water throughout its life; the closest approaches were several hundred miles south and southwest of the Mexican coast as it moved west‑northwest and then west.

The storm’s maximum sustained winds peaked at 70 knots (about 80 mph) with a minimum central pressure of 985 mb on 2 July, making Boris a Category 1 hurricane at peak intensity on the Saffir‑Simpson scale.

Because Boris stayed well offshore, there were no reports of storm surge impacts along the Mexican coast in the official record, and no specific coastal surge heights were recorded in the report. Rainfall and coastal inundation were not noted for populated locations in the NHC report; the storm’s effects were limited due to its distance from land.

There were no reports of deaths or damage associated with Boris. The regions nearest the storm—southwestern Mexico and the waters offshore of the Gulf of Tehuantepec—experienced little or no documented impact from this system.

Notable operational points: forecasters anticipated the system’s development well in advance (it was mentioned in outlooks up to about 60 hours before formation), and official track forecasts were near climatological averages. Intensity forecasts underestimated Boris’s strengthening because wind shear weakened more than expected; several forecast models that rely on historical persistence performed better for intensity than the official forecast.