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Maps: Tracking Tropical Storm Ileana
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Maps: Tracking Tropical Storm Ileana

Ileana was a tropical storm in the North Pacific Ocean on Thursday night (Pacific time), the National Hurricane Center said in its latest warning.

The tropical storm had sustained winds of 45 miles per hour.

All times on the map are Pacific time. By The New York Times

What does the storm look like from above?

Satellite images can help determine the strength, size, and coherence of a storm. The stronger a storm becomes, the more likely it is to develop an eye in the middle. If the eye looks symmetrical, it often means the storm is not encountering anything that could weaken it.

Satellite image of the storm.

Ileana is the ninth named storm to form in the Eastern Pacific Ocean in 2024.

Storms that form in the Atlantic or Pacific generally move west, meaning Atlantic storms pose a greater threat to North America. If a storm forms in the Pacific near land, it can bring damaging winds and rain before it heads out to sea.

Sometimes, however, an air mass can block a storm and push it north or northeast toward the Baja California Peninsula and the west coast of Mexico. Sometimes a storm can move farther north, as Hurricane Hilary did last year, bringing damaging winds and heavy rain to Southern California.

The Eastern Pacific hurricane season began on May 15, two weeks before the Atlantic season began. Both seasons run through November 30.

Another factor for storm watchers this year is the likely development of La Niña, the variable, large-scale atmospheric pattern that can influence weather worldwide.

In the Pacific, La Niña causes more wind shear, which is a change in wind speed and/or direction with height. Those changes make it harder for storms to form. (In the Atlantic, La Niña has the opposite effect, reducing wind shear and increasing the likelihood of storms forming.)

Sources and notes

Tracking card Tracking data is from the National Hurricane Center. The map shows probabilities of at least 5 percent. The forecast is valid for up to five days, with that time span beginning three hours before the reported time the storm reaches its final location. Wind speed probability data is not available north of 60.25 degrees north latitude.

Wind arrival table Arrival times are generated from a New York Times analysis of National Hurricane Center data. Geographic locations use data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Natural Earth. Time zones are based on Google. The table shows predicted arrival times of sustained damaging winds of 58 mph or greater for selected cities with a probability of such winds reaching them. If damaging winds reach a location, there is no more than a 10 percent chance they will arrive before the “earliest reasonable” time and a 50 percent chance they will arrive before the “most likely” time.

Radar map Radar images come from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via Iowa State University. These mosaics are generated by combining individual radar stations that form the NEXRAD network.

Storm surge map Storm surge data is from the National Hurricane Center. Forecasts include only the U.S. coasts, the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Actual areas subject to flooding may differ from those shown on this map. This map accounts for tides, but not for waves and flooding from rainfall. The map also includes intertidal zones, which routinely flood during typical high tides.

Satellite map The images are from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Japan Meteorological Agency via the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere.

Precipitation card Data for multi-day forecasts or observed rainfall totals comes from the National Weather Service. The 1-day forecast comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.