Nora (2015)

A tropical depression formed about 1,600 miles east-southeast of the Hawaiian Islands on 9 October 2015 from a tropical wave that had crossed Central America on 3 October. The system became Tropical Storm Nora on 10 October and tracked generally west to west‑northwest across the eastern into the central North Pacific. Nora crossed 140°W into the central Pacific on 11 October, reached peak strength later that day, then weakened as it moved northwest and dissipated by 0000 UTC 16 October a few hundred miles southeast of the Island of Hawaii.

Nora did not make any landfalls. It remained well over open ocean for its entire life and dissipated several hundred miles southeast of the Big Island; therefore no coastal landfall locations or dates are reported.

The storm’s maximum sustained winds were 60 knots (about 69 mph) and its minimum central pressure was 993 mb, reached at 1800 UTC 11 October. At peak intensity Nora was a strong tropical storm (below hurricane strength).

There were no reports of storm surge impacts associated with Nora, and no reports of rainfall totals causing notable effects on land in the NHC record. No tropical storm force winds were recorded in the Hawaiian Islands, and no watches or warnings were issued for the state.

There were no confirmed deaths and no reports of damage associated with Nora. Forecasting Nora’s track and intensity proved challenging when a mid‑latitude trough was expected to cause the storm to recurve; instead that trough bypassed Nora and the cyclone continued west‑northwest, producing larger-than-average track forecast errors beyond 48 hours. Overall, Nora remained an open‑ocean tropical storm and posed little to no impact on land.