Tropical Storm Olaf was an erratic and long-lived
tropical cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...
that brought heavy rainfall to regions of
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
, which would be devastated by
Hurricane Pauline
Hurricane Pauline was one of the deadliest Pacific hurricanes to make landfall in Mexico. The seventeenth tropical storm, eighth hurricane, and seventh major hurricane of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season, Pauline developed out of a tropical ...
a week later. The 15th named storm of the
1997 season, Olaf formed on September 26 off the southern coast of Mexico. It moved northward and quickly intensified, reaching peak winds of before weakening and hitting
Oaxaca
Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...
as a tropical depression. In Mexico,
El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
, and
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
, the system brought heavy rainfall, which killed 18 people and caused flooding and damage. It was originally thought that Olaf dissipated over Mexico, although its remnants continued westward for a week. It interacted with Hurricane Pauline, which caused Olaf to turn to the southeast and later to the north to strike Mexico again, finally dissipating on October 12.
Meteorological history
The origins of Olaf were from a
tropical wave
A tropical wave (also called easterly wave, tropical easterly wave, and African easterly wave), in and around the Atlantic Ocean, is a type of atmospheric trough, an elongated area of relatively low air pressure, oriented north to south, which ...
first noted over
Central America
Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...
on September 22. It moved slowly through the eastern
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
, and gradually developed an area of
convection
Convection is single or Multiphase flow, multiphase fluid flow that occurs Spontaneous process, spontaneously through the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoy ...
. Concurrently, an upper-level
low-pressure area
In meteorology, a low-pressure area (LPA), low area or low is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations. It is the opposite of a high-pressure area. Low-pressure areas are commonly associated with incle ...
moved from the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...
across
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
into the Pacific, which produced
wind shear
Wind shear (; also written 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 ...
across the region; wind shear is the difference in
wind
Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...
speed
In kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a non-negative scalar quantity. Intro ...
and
direction
Direction may refer to:
*Body relative direction, for instance left, right, forward, backwards, up, and down
** Anatomical terms of location for those used in anatomy
** List of ship directions
*Cardinal direction
*Bearing (navigation)
Mathemat ...
in the
atmosphere
An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...
, and is usually harmful to
tropical cyclogenesis
Tropical cyclogenesis is the development and strengthening of a tropical cyclone in the atmosphere. The mechanisms through which tropics, tropical cyclogenesis occur are distinctly different from those through which temperate cyclogenesis occu ...
. The disturbance associated with the tropical wave persisted and developed
outflow
Outflow may refer to:
*Capital outflow, the capital leaving a particular economy
*Bipolar outflow, in astronomy, two continuous flows of gas from the poles of a star
* Outflow (hydrology), the discharge of a lake or other reservoir system
*Outflow ...
. This caused the upper-level low to move away from the system. On September 26, it was sufficiently organized to be classified Tropical Depression Seventeen-E, while located about south of the
Gulf of Tehuantepec
The Gulf of Tehuantepec () is a large body of water on the Pacific coast of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, southeastern Mexico, at . Many (but not all) Pacific hurricanes form in or near this body of water. A strong, gale-force wind called the T ...
.
A few hours after developing, the depression attained tropical storm status, or winds of at least . Upon doing so, 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 IERS Reference Meridian, Prime Meridian and the 140th meridian ...
(NHC) gave it the name "Olaf". The upper-level low, which was moving away from the region, caused the storm to move northward toward the Mexican coast. Olaf quickly intensified, as evidenced by reports from a nearby ship, and the winds reached by late on September 27; the NHC anticipated further intensification to hurricane status, or winds of at least . Instead, interaction with the rough terrain of Mexico caused weakening. Olaf made landfall on
Salina Cruz
Salina Cruz is a major seaport on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of the List of states of Mexico, Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is the state's fourth-largest city and is the municipal seat of the Municipalities of Oaxaca, municipality of the sa ...
,
Oaxaca
Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...
early on September 29 as a tropical depression. Within a few hours, the circulation was not evident on satellite imagery, and the NHC discontinued advisories.
Despite being considered dissipated, a re-analysis of satellite imagery indicated the circulation of Olaf persisted as turned to the west toward open waters. Early on September 30, the system reached the Pacific, and it continued westward for about a week, during which it retained some convective activity. On October 5, Olaf turned toward the east, as it interacted with the large circulation of developing
Hurricane Pauline
Hurricane Pauline was one of the deadliest Pacific hurricanes to make landfall in Mexico. The seventeenth tropical storm, eighth hurricane, and seventh major hurricane of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season, Pauline developed out of a tropical ...
. Later that day, the NHC resumed issuing advisories, while it was located about southwest of the southern tip of the
Baja California Peninsula.
The system turned to the southeast, and, failing to organize, the NHC discontinued advisories on October 8. Three days later, after the remnants of Olaf turned toward the north, the NHC again resumed advisories, when it was just south-southwest of
Tecomán, Colima.
Late on October 12, the circulation of Olaf made its final landfall near
Manzanillo, Colima, and it quickly dissipated. An associated area of thunderstorms moved over open waters again, but failed to redevelop.
Impact and preparations
Prior to moving ashore, a tropical storm warning was issued from
Punta Maldonado, Guerrero, to
Tapachula, Chiapas
Tapachula de Córdova y Ordóñez, simply known as Tapachula, is a city and municipalities of Chiapas, municipality located in the far southeast of the List of states of Mexico, state of Chiapas, Mexico, near the Guatemalan border and the Pacifi ...
, and the
Port of Chiapas
The Port Chiapas () or Puerto Madero is a port in Puerto de San Benito in the Tapachula municipality of the Soconusco region in the southern portion of the Mexico, Mexican state of Chiapas. The port entrance lies about northwest of the mouth of th ...
, near the
Mexico–Guatemala border. When Olaf was strengthening faster than anticipated, the advisory was upgraded to a hurricane warning, although it was downgraded to a tropical storm after the intensification did not occur.
Upon making its first landfall, Tropical Depression Olaf produced gusty winds and heavy rains along the southeastern coast of Mexico.
The peak 24‑hour rainfall total was in
Juchitán de Zaragoza
Juchitán de Zaragoza (; Spanish name; Isthmus Zapotec: ''Xabizende'' ) is an indigenous town in the southeast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is part of the Juchitán District in the west of the Istmo de Tehuantepec region. With a 2020 cens ...
in
Oaxaca
Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...
;
the highest rainfall total throughout Olaf's duration was at a station called Soyalapa/Comaltepec in Oaxaca. Heavy rainfall was also reported in Guatemala and
El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
.
Across the affected region, the heavy rainfall caused flooding, which resulted in 18 deaths. In Mexico, the flooding damaged of coffee, corn, and other crops;
in
Chiapas
Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...
, the coffee crop damage represented a severe cut into the yearly total. The precipitation flooded many buildings across the region, including 30 houses in the Chiapas capital of
Tuxtla Gutiérrez
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, or Tuxtla, (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Mexico, Mexican southeastern state of Chiapas. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name, which is the most developed and populous in the state. A busy govern ...
, when a river exceeded its banks. In mountainous regions, mudslides left dozens of small villages isolated from the outside world. Along the coast, high waves of up to forced the closure of all ports in three Mexican states, which affected thousands of fishermen.
Further west, three fishing vessels were reported missing near
Acapulco
Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...
, prompting rescue parties.
The storm also forced the closure of several airports.
In its final landfall, there was no damage reported;
precipitation in that region peaked at in
Coquimatlán
Coquimatlán is a city and seat of the municipality of Coquimatlán, in the Mexican state of Colima. As of 2005, it had a population of 11,374.Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía
The National Institute of Statistics and Geography ...
,
Colima
Colima, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Colima, is among the 31 states that make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It shares its name with its capital and main city, Colima.
Colima is a small state of western Mexico on the cen ...
.
Following the storm, the Mexican government sent food, water, and housing supplies to affected families in Oaxaca.
Less than a week after Olaf moved through southern Mexico,
Hurricane Pauline
Hurricane Pauline was one of the deadliest Pacific hurricanes to make landfall in Mexico. The seventeenth tropical storm, eighth hurricane, and seventh major hurricane of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season, Pauline developed out of a tropical ...
struck the same region with much stronger winds. Pauline caused heavier rainfall and more damage, killing at least 250 people.
Some regions received 10 days of heavy rainfall.
See also
*
Other tropical cyclones named Olaf
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olaf (1997)
Eastern Pacific tropical storms
1997 Pacific hurricane season
September 1997 in Mexico
October 1997 in Mexico
1997 disasters in Mexico
1997 in El Salvador
1997 in Guatemala
Hurricanes in El Salvador
Hurricanes in Guatemala
Hurricanes in Oaxaca
Hurricanes in Colima
Hurricanes in Guerrero
Hurricanes in Chiapas