Cyclone Torracat (2018)

Cyclone Torracat was an extremely intense and long lived cyclone that furthered the devastation previously caused by other cyclones (prominently Cyclone Ampharos) in the Hawaiian Islands. The most intense cyclone of the 2018 Lucarius Pacific Cyclone Season; Torracat was the thirty first named storm, seventeenth cyclone, tenth intense cyclone and fourth Category 6+ cyclone of said season. Torracat caused catastrophic damage, mostly contained to Hawaii. Torracat was the most intense cyclone to make landfall in Hawaii, the first intense cyclone to exist in the month of December since 2012 and held the longest consecutive time while holding Category 6 or higher status on record(from October 23 to November 27 - 34 days).

Torracat formed from a Tropical Wave on October 17 near the Southwestern border of Central America, with convective feedback enhanced by the flow of the abnormally strong positive phase of the Levi Current. Favorable conditions prompted the cyclone to intensify quickly throughout the first week to a 215 mph cyclone before executing a jog to the West-Southwest. Throughout the next month, patchy conditions led to gradual fluctuations between Categories 7 and 6 on the Lucarius Cyclonic Classification scale. On November 21, another rapid intensification phase ensued which therefore caused Torracat to reach a peak intensity of 225 mph (360 km/h) and 871 mbar (25.71 inHg), the lowest in 2018 worldwide and the most intense since Cyclone Thirteen of 2012. Torracat would make landfall as 220 mph cyclone on November 23 in the Big Island of Hawaii. Torracat made a jog to the Northwest and made a second landfall in the island O'ahu at 185 mph. After interaction with Cyclone Gengar and subsequent stalling, the cyclone accelerated to the north-northeast while making landfalls in O'ahu again with 170 mph winds and one in Alaska with 80 mph winds.

Torracat was one of three cyclones to make multiple cyclone force landfalls in Hawaii in two months (the others being Cyclones Ampharos and Gengar). Torracat is also the strongest Alaskan landfall on record. The cyclone caused 1,716 total deaths, with over 1,500 of those in Hawaii as well as $117.6 billion (2018 USD). In the month of November, a report by google had shown that Cyclone Torracat was the most searched term in the United States during that month.