Created September 1997 in the eastern Pacific off the Mexican coast, Linda's winds reached an incredible 185 mph. Unusual warmth in the Pacific Ocean waters helped give this hurricane the energy needed to become the strongest storm ever observed in the eastern Pacific. For a time Linda threatened to hit the California coast but the storm turned away. Had it reached California this would have been the first hurricane to do so since 1939.
Linda was very unusual since eastern Pacific hurricanes and tropical storms rarely threaten the U.S. west coast.