Hurricane Lowell: Every Pacific Storm to Carry the Name, and What Became of Them

If you search for Hurricane Lowell, you are actually looking up several different storms. Lowell is a rotating name in the Eastern Pacific hurricane naming system, and it has been assigned to tropical cyclones in 1990, 1996, 2002, 2008, 2014, and 2020. Most of these storms stayed well offshore and caused little damage. The standout was Hurricane Lowell of 2014, which strengthened into a major Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds near 115 mph (185 km/h), making it by far the most intense storm to carry the name under the modern naming system.
Here is a full breakdown of the name, each storm that used it, and the patterns that explain why so many Lowells never made landfall.
Why the name Lowell keeps coming back
The Eastern Pacific basin, where hurricanes form off the Pacific coast of Mexico and Central America, uses six rotating lists of names. Each year takes the next list in order, so the same set of names repeats every six years. A name is only retired if a storm is so deadly or destructive that reusing it would be insensitive — as happened with Odile (2014) and Willa (2018). Because no storm named Lowell caused catastrophic loss, the name has never been retired and continues to cycle through. It is scheduled to appear again in 2026.
This is worth knowing when you encounter references to "Hurricane Lowell" in older news reports or storm databases. The year matters more than the name.
Hurricane Lowell 2014: the strongest of them
Lowell formed in mid-August 2014 during one of the most active Eastern Pacific seasons on record, a hyperactive stretch that also produced Hurricane Marie, which reached Category 5 intensity, and Hurricane Odile, which later struck Baja California Sur. Lowell became a named storm southwest of the Mexican coast and intensified steadily over warm water, peaking as a Category 3 hurricane — the threshold for a "major" hurricane.
Despite its strength, Lowell never threatened a direct landfall. It tracked west-northwest, roughly parallel to the Mexican coast, and its core stayed over open ocean. Forecasters did watch its outer moisture, which was expected to bring locally heavy showers to parts of Baja California Sur, but the storm's main circulation remained offshore. After peaking, Lowell moved over progressively cooler water and began a steady weakening trend. Its remnant circulation drifted into the Central Pacific, where it dissipated.
The 2014 storm is the one most people mean when they say "Hurricane Lowell," and it is also the clearest example of a recurring theme with this name: strong enough to matter, positioned so that it didn't.
Hurricane Lowell 2020
The most recent storm to use the name formed in late August 2020. Lowell developed southwest of Mexico and reached Category 1 hurricane strength before curving west-northwest over the open Pacific. Like its 2014 predecessor, it followed a track that kept it far from population centers. It weakened as it moved over cooler water and dissipated without reported significant impact on land.
The 2020 season is often remembered for the record-setting Atlantic hurricane season happening at the same time, while the Eastern Pacific was comparatively quiet. Lowell was one of that season's modest contributions — a hurricane in name, but a non-event for coastal communities.
Tropical Storm Lowell 2018
Not every Lowell earned the title of hurricane. The 2018 version formed in late August southwest of the Mexican coast, peaked as a moderate tropical storm, and never reached hurricane strength. It moved generally westward over the open ocean and dissipated within days. If you came across "Tropical Storm Lowell" in records from 2018, this is why it lacks a hurricane designation.
The earlier Lowells: 2008, 2002, 1996, and 1990
The 2008 storm stands out among the earlier ones because it was the only Lowell in recent decades to move onshore. It formed in early August off the southern Mexican coast, strengthened into a tropical storm, and then came ashore in western Mexico while weakening. Its remnant moisture pushed northward and was tied to locally heavy rainfall in parts of Texas — a reminder that Eastern Pacific systems, even weak ones, can influence weather well beyond their immediate area.
The 2002 Lowell reached Category 1 hurricane strength in early September and tracked westward across the open Pacific. Its remnants carried tropical moisture far to the west, with some of that moisture reaching the Hawaiian Islands region and contributing to locally heavy showers.
The 1996 and 1990 storms both grew into hurricanes over open water and stayed clear of major land areas. The 1990 event was the first use of the name under the naming lists still in rotation today. Neither storm left a significant mark beyond shipping forecasts and historical records.
Patterns worth understanding
Looking across every storm named Lowell, several consistent patterns emerge, and they say a lot about how Eastern Pacific hurricanes behave in general.
Offshore tracks are the norm for mid-season storms. Hurricanes forming off Mexico in August and September are frequently steered west-northwest by the subtropical ridge, a semi-permanent high-pressure system over the eastern Pacific. This steering pattern pushes storms parallel to the coast rather than into it. Both the 2014 and 2020 Lowells followed this classic route.
Cold water ends most of them. Sea surface temperatures drop quickly along the west-northwest track away from Mexico. Once a storm crosses over water below roughly 26°C (79°F), it loses its fuel source and weakens. This is why so many Eastern Pacific hurricanes "die at sea" and why their remnants, rather than their cores, are what sometimes affect distant places like Hawaii or the U.S. Southwest.
Weak or dying storms still carry moisture. The 2008 remnant rain in Texas and the 2002 moisture near Hawaii illustrate an important point: a storm's official landfall status does not capture its full weather influence. Remnant tropical moisture from Eastern Pacific systems occasionally contributes to significant rainfall events in the American Southwest, sometimes helping relieve drought conditions — or occasionally causing flash flooding.
No reported damage is not the same as no risk. Every Lowell ultimately stayed away from major population centers, but that outcome depended on track, not on weakness. The 2014 storm was a major hurricane; if its west-northwest path had shifted even modestly eastward, Baja California would have faced a very different situation. Coastal residents of Mexico's Pacific states treat each of these offshore storms seriously for exactly this reason.
How to track storms like Lowell today
If a future storm named Lowell forms in 2026, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami is the authoritative source for Eastern Pacific forecasts, including track cones, intensity predictions, and watches or warnings for the Mexican coast. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu takes over responsibility for systems that cross 140°W longitude, as some Lowell remnants have done.
A few practical habits make following these storms easier. Check the NHC's graphical tropical weather outlook, which shows developing systems up to five days ahead. Pay attention to the forecast cone's edges rather than just the center line, since impacts such as rain, surf, and wind often extend well beyond it. And remember that storm names tell you nothing about severity — a name you have seen before may behave nothing like its predecessors.
The bottom line
Hurricane Lowell is best understood as a family of storms rather than a single event. The name has cycled through the Eastern Pacific six times, producing one major hurricane (2014), several ordinary hurricanes that stayed offshore, one landfalling tropical storm (2008), and one system that never grew past tropical storm strength (2018). None caused widely reported major damage, largely because the region's typical steering currents kept them over open water. The name will return in 2026, and if history is a guide, the next Lowell will again form southwest of Mexico, head west-northwest, and test the line between a headline and a footnote.