On June 14, a broad area of low pressure, associated with a tropical wave, formed off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Showers and thunderstorms associated with the low became better organized over the next couple of days, and the NHC designated it Potential Tropical Cyclone Five‑E at 21:00 UTC on June 16. The system soon acquired a well-defined circulation, developing into Tropical Depression Five‑E. The depression then strengthened into Tropical Storm Erick the next morning. The storm tracked northwestward through the day, while becoming increasingly better-organized. Deep convection expanded, and cloud tops cooled to about −120 °F (−85 °C) near the improving inner-core structure. Erick rapidly intensified into a Category 1 hurricane around 12:00 UTC on June 18, about 160 mi (255 km) south-southeast of Puerto Ángel, Oaxaca. Rapid intensification continued, and with data collected from a Hurricane Hunter flight, the NHC upgraded Erick to category 2 strength a few hours later. Then, after another Hurricane Hunter flight, the storm was upgraded once more, becoming a Category 3 major hurricane at 00:00 UTC on June 19. Later, as Erick approached the coast of Mexico, the storm reached its peak intensity, with Category 4 sustained winds of 145 mph (230 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 939 mb (27.73 inHg). Then, shortly before 12:00 UTC, Erick made landfall in extreme western Oaxaca, about 20 mi (30 km) east of Punta Maldonado, Guerrero, with sustained winds of 125 mph (200 km/h). Inland, the hurricane rapidly weakened as its inner core began to collapse. Moving northwestward over rugged terrain, the inner core continued to deteriorate, and the system's overall convective pattern became quite ragged. Consequently, Erick weakened to tropical storm strength by 21:00 UTC. Later that same day, the storm weakened to a tropical depression, and then dissipated.
Track and info thanks to Wikipedia. Music to F13.
