Fabio (2018)

A tropical wave that moved into the eastern North Pacific organized into a broad low several hundred miles south-southeast of Acapulco, Mexico, in late June. A tropical depression formed about 500 nautical miles south of Manzanillo on 30 June 2018, became a tropical storm the next day, and strengthened into a hurricane by 2 July. Fabio moved generally west-northwest to northwest, reached its peak on 3 July about 560 nmi southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, then moved over cooler water and weakened to a post-tropical low by 6 July. The remnant low continued west-northwest and dissipated by 9 July well west of the Baja California region.

Fabio remained well offshore for its entire life; there were no coastal watches or warnings issued and the storm did not make any landfalls.

Fabio’s peak intensity was estimated at 95 knots (about 110 mph) with a minimum central pressure of 964 mb, making it a Category 2 hurricane at its peak. That peak was reached at 1800 UTC on 3 July and was maintained for roughly 12 hours before steady weakening began.

There were no reports of storm surge or rainfall impacts tied to Fabio in coastal communities, and no ship reports of tropical-storm-force winds. Because the cyclone stayed far from land, no specific surge heights or heavy rainfall totals were recorded at named cities or counties in the NHC report.

No deaths, injuries, or damage were reported in association with Fabio. The storm’s impacts were essentially nil because it remained over open water throughout its lifespan.

Forecasts noted some uncertainty in the storm’s peak intensity: objective satellite techniques gave higher peak values than subjective analyses, so NHC weighted the lower subjective estimates for the official peak. Forecast models and the NHC did well predicting Fabio’s development and track; genesis was forecast several days in advance and official track and intensity forecasts performed at or better than climatological averages for most forecast intervals.