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Hurricane Lester was the first Pacific tropical cyclone to enter the United States as a tropical storm since 1967. The twelfth named storm and seventh hurricane of the 1992 Pacific hurricane season, Lester formed on August 20 from a tropical wave southwest of Mexico. The tropical storm moved generally northwestward while steadily intensifying. After turning to the north, approaching the Mexican coast, Lester attained hurricane status. The hurricane reached peak winds of 85 mph (140 km/h) before making landfall on west-central Baja California. The system weakened while moving across the peninsula and then over northwestern Mexico. Not long after entering Arizona, Lester weakened to a tropical depression, and dissipated on August 24 over New Mexico. In Mexico, the hurricane resulted in $3 million in damage (1992 USD, $4.7 million 2011 USD). It also left 5,000 people left homeless, and was responsible for three fatalities. The remnants of Lester also produced moderate rainfall and minor flooding across southern California, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, as well as rare August snow in the Rocky Mountains. ==Meteorological history== A weak tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on August 7. It tracked across the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea without development due to strong wind shear. The wave then split into two, with the northern portion dissipating over Cuba on August 15 and the southern portion continuing westward. The wave crossed Central America and entered the Pacific Ocean on August 16. Deep convection increased over the wave upon entering the Pacific, and early on August 19 it started to become better organized. After the development of a low-level circulation, the system organized into Tropical Depression Fourteen-E on August 20 while located about 275 miles (445 km) south-southwest of Manzanillo, Colima. The depression gradually tracked northwestward at 15 mph (24 km/h).〔 Although the center of the depression was initially uncertain, it slowly strengthened and steadily organized. The depression attained tropical storm status late on August 20, upon which the storm was named ''Lester''. The cyclone continued to the northwest, and passed directly over Socorro Island on August 21. By early the next day, an eastward moving trough weakened the ridge to its north, resulting in a to turn to the north.〔 Around this time, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center predicted the storm would not strengthen to hurricane intensity before making landfall. Despite this, Lester intensified into a hurricane late on August 22 while located about 240 miles (385 km) west of La Paz in Baja California Sur.〔 The hurricane continued to organize and banding-type eye soon formed. Early on August 23 it attained peak winds of 85 mph (140 km/h) with a minimum central pressure of 985 mbar (hPa; 29.09 inHg). Lester weakened steadily as the storm turned to the northeast, and made landfall as a minimal hurricane near Punta Abreojos, Baja California Sur about ten hours after reaching peak intensity. It degenerated into a tropical storm while crossing the Baja California Peninsula. After passing through the northern Gulf of California, it made a second landfall near Isla Tiburon in the state of Sonora.〔 Lester entered Arizona as a tropical storm on August 24, the first time since Hurricane Katrina in 1967 that an Eastern Pacific tropical cyclone entered the United States with winds of at least tropical storm intensity. Lester maintained tropical storm status until it weakened into a tropical depression near Tucson, Arizona. Later that day, the low level circulation dissipated over New Mexico, and Lester ceased to exist as a tropical cyclone. The storms remnants transitioned into an extratropical cyclone as it continued to the north-northeast ahead of an approaching trough, and merged with the remnants of Hurricane Andrew on August 29 over Pennsylvania. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hurricane Lester (1992)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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