Hurricane Pali

As currently defined, the Pacific hurricane season lasts from May 15 to November 30, the period in which tropical cyclones are most likely to develop across the basin. Occasionally, systems develop outside these seasons, most frequently in May or December, though some off-season storms also develop in January. Activity in January is extremely rare; only two systems other than Pali have been recorded since 1949: Tropical Storm Winona in 1989 and Hurricane Ekeka in 1992, which became a Category 3 major hurricane. Pali was also the earliest recorded Central Pacific hurricane, reaching hurricane intensity on January 12, beating the previous record-holder, Hurricane Ekeka, by 19 days. Pali also formed and tracked closer to the equator than any other storm recorded in the Pacific hurricane basin. Pali became a tropical depression near 3.3°N. Unrelated to Pali, the formation of Hurricane Alex over the North Atlantic in mid-January coincided with Pali's development over the Central Pacific. This marked the first occurrence of simultaneous January tropical cyclones between these two basins. ==Meteorological history==

In late December 2015, a long-lived and powerful westerly wind burst—a feature commonly associated with strong El Niño events—triggered the formation of Tropical Depression Nine-C in the central North Pacific, along with its twin, Tropical Cyclone Ula, in the central South Pacific. Tropical Depression Nine-C quickly dissipated by the start of 2016, leaving behind a large area of moisture across the equatorial Pacific. The persistent, powerful westerly wind burst spurred cyclogenesis within a persistent, low-latitude, west-to-east-oriented surface trough that spanned between 1.0°N and 3.0°N latitude as far east as 155.0°W longitude, resulting in the formation of a weak area of low pressure on January 6, at the extremely low latitude of 1.9°N. Pali continued intensifying through the first half of January 8 and nearly reached Category 1 hurricane strength, with maximum 1-minute sustained winds reaching 70 mph (110 km/h), but easterly vertical wind shear caused by the ridge aloft increased and disrupted its center, causing the storm to start weakening and curve northwestward. During the next few days, Pali rapidly weakened while turning back towards the south-southwest, due to steady increases in southerly vertical wind shear and the loss of Coriolis force. The storm's weakening trend began on January 13 and accelerated through the next day, as Pali moved back towards the area from where it had formed. The storm's eye became indistinguishable by 06:00 UTC on January 13, as the system continued to weaken. and the storm's center dissipated by 00:00 UTC on January 15. However, Pali's remnants continued to persist for a while, before dissipating later that day. Pali completed a broad and looping track, dissipating approximately from where it had initially developed. While weakening, Pali reached a minimum latitude of 2.6°N, making it the second-lowest latitude tropical cyclone on record in the Western Hemisphere, behind Tropical Depression Nine-C, which attained a minimum latitude of 2.2°N just two weeks prior. ==Impacts==

In the 19th session of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)'s Tropical Cyclone Committee, in July 2021, Kiribati reported that Hurricane Pali had severe impacts in Kiribati. While Pali caused a significant amount of property damage, the exact amount of damage was not given in the report to the WMO. Pali caused a cargo ship to run aground on the coast of Kiribati, killing four people. Additionally, Pali's storm surge combined with the Spring Tide and the El Niño-induced above-average sea level, producing major coastal flooding in Kiribati, which caused significant damage to the island nation's coastal infrastructure. ==See also==