Hurricane Jimena was a strong

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

that brushed

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

in early September 2003. It was the tenth named storm and second hurricane of the

2003 Pacific hurricane season The 2003 Pacific hurricane season was the first season to feature no major hurricanes – storms of Category 3 intensity or higher on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHWS) – since 1977. The dates conventionally delimiting the ...

. Jimena formed on August 28 in the far

Eastern Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

as a tropical depression and moved westward where it rapidly became a hurricane the following day. The storm moved westward into the Central Pacific Ocean where it became a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale. After reaching its peak strength as a Category 2 hurricane, the storm began to weaken due to increasing

wind shear Wind shear (or windshear), sometimes referred to as wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and/or direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere. Atmospheric wind shear is normally described as either vertical or horizontal ...

. Jimena brushed past the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...

before becoming a tropical depression on September 3. The weakening storm then crossed the international dateline before dissipating on September 5, becoming one of the few storms to cross both 140ºW and

International Date Line The International Date Line (IDL) is an internationally accepted demarcation on the surface of Earth, running between the South and North Poles and serving as the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific O ...

. Jimena was the first

Pacific hurricane A Pacific hurricane is a mature tropical cyclone that develops within the northeastern and central Pacific Ocean to the east of 180°W, north of the equator. For tropical cyclone warning purposes, the northern Pacific is divided into three regio ...

to threaten

since Hurricane Daniel of the 2000 Pacific hurricane season. However, the storm weakened as it passed south of the islands and the effects from Jimena were minimal; there were no reported fatalities or injuries from the storm.

Meteorological history

An area of disturbed weather formed on August 26, 2003, and drifted westward. The disturbed weather then began to organize and the system became a tropical depression on August 28. Moving westward over waters greater than , Tropical Depression Ten-E rapidly strengthened into a tropical storm and was named ''Jimena'' by the

National Hurricane Center The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is the division of the United States' NOAA/National Weather Service responsible for tracking and predicting tropical weather systems between the Prime Meridian and the 140th meridian west poleward to the 3 ...

. Jimena continued to intensify as it moved westward. On August 29, satellite imagery showed a well defined eye developing in the storm as the storm winds increased to . Jimena then was upgraded to hurricane status later that day. At 1500 UTC, visible

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

imagery showed the storm having a small cloud filled eye and developing banding features south of the storm's center as Jimena continued to move west northwest. As the hurricane neared the Central Pacific Basin, it winds reached a peak intensity of and its barometric pressure fell to 970 millibars on August 30. At 0600 UTC, the National Hurricane Center issued its last advisory on Jimena as the storm crossed into the

Central Pacific Hurricane Center The Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) of the United States National Weather Service is the official body responsible for tracking and issuing tropical cyclone warnings, watches, advisories, discussions, and statements for the Central Pacifi ...

's area of responsibility. On August 31, Jimena encountered strong southerly

, causing it to quickly weaken back to a tropical storm by September 1. Jimena then turned west-southwest where the center of the storm passed south of

at 1500 UTC. Jimena continued to weaken as wind shear increased and the storm weakened to a tropical depression on September 3. After weakening back to a depression, Jimena crossed the

on September 5 at 0600 UTC, where it became the first storm to exist in all three Pacific basins since 1999's Hurricane Dora. However, Jimena was only tracked briefly by the

Joint Typhoon Warning Center The Joint typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) is a joint United States Navy – United States Air Force command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The JTWC is responsible for the issuing of tropical cyclone warnings in the North-West Pacific Ocean, South P ...

, since strong wind shear resulted in the low level circulation to be exposed from the center and at 1727 UTC, the low level had nearly dissipated. At 1800 UTC, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center issued their final advisory on Jimena as the storm dissipated southeast of

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of To ...

Preparations and impact

Forecasters at the

began issuing a

Hurricane Watch Tropical cyclone warnings and watches are alerts issued by national weather forecasting bodies to coastal areas threatened by the imminent approach of a tropical cyclone of tropical storm or hurricane intensity. They are notices to the local popul ...

for the Big Island of

on August 31 at 0000 UTC; the following day the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) issued a tropical storm warning at 0300 UTC and a flash flood watch. The watches and warnings prompted residents to board up windows and stock up on emergency supplies. The storm's approach also closed down beaches and prompted officials to cancel outdoor activates as a precaution and the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

opened shelters and provided emergency services. The preparations for Hurricane Jimena cost the American Red Cross $5,000 (2003

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

). As Jimena passed south of Hawaii as a weakening tropical storm, it brought high winds and heavy rainfall to the

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

. High wind gusts of were reported in South Point and

Kahoolawe Kahoolawe (Hawaiian: ), anglicized as Kahoolawe (), is the smallest of the eight main volcanic islands in the Hawaiian Islands. Kahoolawe is located about southwest of Maui and also southeast of Lānaʻi, and it is long by wide, with a total ...

. In

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, a weather station reported winds of while a station in

Kauai Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the 21st largest island ...

reported winds of . The storm dropped 6–10 inches of rain across the Big Island. In Glenwood, Hawaii, the storm dropped of rain. The rainfall from Jimena helped reduce drought conditions across the Big Island. Coastal sections of the Hawaiian Islands reported high surf ranging from high. High winds from Jimena knocked down trees and damaged power lines, leaving 1,300 residents without electricity. Heavy rainfall from the storm also caused minor flooding on the eastern side of the Big Island. Offshore, high surf and strong currents brought by the storm resulted in 350 swimmers being rescued by the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

, residents, and state and local police and fire departments. Overall there were no fatalities or injuries from Hurricane Jimena. The name ''Jimena'' was not retired by the

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics. The WMO originated from the Internati ...

in the spring of 2004 and was used in the 2009 season.

References

{{Good article

Jimena Jimena or Ximena is the female version of the given name Jimeno, derived from the Basque ''Semen''. It has come to be viewed as a form of the name Simone, though their origins are distinct. The French rendering of the name is Chimène. It may re ...

Jimena (2003) 2003 natural disasters in the United States

2003 in Hawaii

Meteorological history

Preparations and impact

See also

References