Daniel (2006)

A tropical wave that left the coast of Africa on 2 July crossed into the eastern North Pacific by 12 July and organized into a tropical depression about 455 nautical miles south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico at 1800 UTC on 16 July 2006. The system strengthened to Tropical Storm Daniel on 17 July and became a hurricane on 18 July. Daniel moved generally westward to west-northwestward under a subtropical ridge, underwent two eyewall replacement cycles while well offshore, crossed 140°W into the central North Pacific on 24 July, and weakened to a remnant low by 0000 UTC 27 July. The remnant low dissipated about 220 nautical miles east-southeast of Hilo on 28 July.

Daniel remained well offshore of land and made no landfalls during its life. No tropical storm or hurricane watches or warnings were required for any coastal areas.

The storm reached peak intensity around 0000 UTC 22 July with maximum sustained winds of 130 knots (about 150 mph) and a minimum central pressure of 933 mb, making it a high-end Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. After peak, Daniel weakened slowly as it moved over cooler waters and encountered increasing wind shear.

Because Daniel stayed far from land, there were no observations of tropical-storm-force or greater winds at populated locations and no reports of storm surge impacts. The official report lists no rainfall totals or surge heights at named cities or counties associated with the cyclone.

There were no reported deaths or damage from Daniel. Forecasters noted the storm’s rapid development was poorly anticipated: the system was first highlighted as having tropical cyclone potential only about one hour before the best-track genesis time and nine hours before the first operational advisory. Official track forecasts performed better than average overall, though some long-range (120 h) forecasts showed little skill due to incorrect timing of a ridge weakening; intensity forecasts underestimated the initial strengthening and overestimated the later weakening.