2012 Pacific hurricane season

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2012 Pacific hurricane season
Season summary map
Seasonal boundaries
First system formed	May 14, 2012
Last system dissipated	Season still active
Strongest storm

Name	Aletta
• Maximum winds	50 mph (85 km/h)
• Lowest pressure	1000 mbar (hPa; 29.53 inHg)

Seasonal statistics
Total depressions	1
Total storms	1
Hurricanes	0
Major hurricanes (Cat. 3+)	0
Total fatalities	Unknown
Total damage	Unknown
Related article
Timeline of the 2012 Pacific hurricane season
Pacific hurricane seasons 2010, 2011, 2012, Post-2012

The 2012 Pacific hurricane season is an event in the annual cycle of tropical cyclone formation. The season was scheduled to officially start on May 15, 2012 in the Eastern Pacific, although Tropical Storm Aletta developed a day prior. The season is scheduled to begin on June 1, 2012 in the Central Pacific, and the entire season will end on November 30, 2012. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Pacific basin.

Seasonal forecasts

**Predictions of tropical activity in the 2012 season**
Source	Date	Named storms	Hurricanes	Major hurricanes
Average (1971–2006)		15.3	8.8	4.2
Record high activity		28	16 (tie)	10
Record low activity		8 (tie)	3	0† (tie)
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
		1	0	0
*† Most recent of several such occurrences. (See all)

Storms

Tropical Storm Aletta

Tropical storm (SSHWS)

Duration	May 14 – May 19
Peak intensity	50 mph (85 km/h) (1-min); 1000 mbar (hPa)

On May 12, a tropical disturbance formed about 550 miles (890 km) south-southwest of Acapulco, Mexico. The disturbance quickly moved northwest before becoming stationary, at which time it began to strengthen rapidly. It is estimated that by early on May 14, the disturbance intensified into Tropical Depression One-E. The depression formed one day before the official start of the 2012 Pacific hurricane season; it was the first occasion of a pre-season tropical cyclone since Tropical Storm One-E developed on May 13, 1996. Late on May 14, the National Hurricane Center upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Aletta. On May 16, Tropical Storm Aletta reached its peak intensity of 50 mph (85 km/h), with a minimum low pressure of 1000 mbars. Later on May 16, Tropical Storm Aletta began to enter unfavorable environmental conditions, with increasing wind shear and dry air, which weakened the storm to a 40 mph (65 km/h) tropical storm. Very late on May 16, the National Hurricane Center downgraded Aletta to a tropical depression, as the system began losing its convection after turning to the west-northwest. On May 17, Tropical Depression Aletta lost most of its convection, as it turned to the northwest. Late on May 17, Aletta regained much of its convection, as it turned northward. On May 18, Aletta lost all of its western and southern convection, due to winds shear as the storm turned northeastward, and continued to weaken. Aletta became post-tropical the next day, as it turned to the east. Late on May 19, the remnant low of Aletta dissipated completely.

Timeline of recent events

Main article: Timeline of the 2012 Pacific hurricane season

Storm names

The following names will be used for named storms that form in the Eastern Pacific in 2012. Retired names, if any, will be announced by the World Meteorological Organization in the spring of 2013. The names not retired from this list will be used again in the 2018 season. This is the same list used in the 2006 season.

Aletta
Bud (unused)
Carlotta (unused)
Daniel (unused)
Emilia (unused)
Fabio (unused)
Gilma (unused)
Hector (unused)

Ileana (unused)
John (unused)
Kristy (unused)
Lane (unused)
Miriam (unused)
Norman (unused)
Olivia (unused)
Paul (unused)

Rosa (unused)
Sergio (unused)
Tara (unused)
Vicente (unused)
Willa (unused)
Xavier (unused)
Yolanda (unused)
Zeke (unused)

The Central Pacific season originates around the islands of Hawaii. There are several names that are in four lists; the next four names to be used are shown below.

Pewa (unused)
Unala (unused)
Wali (unused)
Ana (unused)

Season effects

This is a table of all of the storms in the 2012 Pacific hurricane season. It includes their durations, peak intensities, names, landfall(s), damages, and death totals. Deaths in parentheses are additional and indirect (an example of an indirect death would be a traffic accident), but are still storm-related. Damage and deaths include totals while the storm was extratropical, a wave, or a low. All of the damage figures are in 2012 USD.

Saffir–Simpson scale
TD	TS	C1	C2	C3	C4	C5

2012 Pacific hurricane season statistics
Storm name	Dates active	Storm category at peak intensity	Max 1-min wind mph (km/h)	Min. press. (mbar)	Areas affected	Damage (USD)	Deaths
Aletta	May 14 – May 19	Tropical storm	50 (85)	1000	None	None	None
Season aggregates
1 systems	May 14 – Currently active		50 mph (85 km/h)	1000		0	0

Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE)

ACE (10kt²) (Source) — Storm:
1	1.18	Aletta
Total: 1.18

The table on the right shows the ACE for each storm in the season. Broadly speaking, the ACE is a measure of the power of a hurricane multiplied by the length of time it existed, so storms that last a long time, as well as particularly strong hurricanes, have high ACEs. ACE is calculated for only full advisories on specifically tropical systems reaching or exceeding wind speeds of 34 knots (39 mph, 63 km/h), or tropical storm strength. Accordingly, tropical depressions are not included here. The ACE also does not include subtropical storms. Later the NHC reexamines the data, and produces a final report on each storm, which can lead to the ACE for a storm being revised either upward or downward. Until the final reports are issued, ACEs are, therefore, provisional.

The figures in parentheses are for storms in the Central Pacific basin west of 140°W; those not in parentheses are for the Eastern Pacific basin.