Hurricane John (1994)

Hurricane John (1994)

Hurricane John (also known as Typhoon John, international designation: 9420, JTWC designation: 10E) formed during the 1994 Pacific hurricane season and became both the longest-lasting and the farthest-traveling tropical cyclone ever observed. John formed during the strong El Niño of 1991 to 1994 and peaked as a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, the highest categorization for hurricanes.

Over the course of its existence, it followed a 7,165 miles (13,280 km) path from the eastern Pacific to the western Pacific and back to the central Pacific, lasting 31 days in total. Because it existed in both the eastern and western Pacific, John was one of a small number of tropical cyclones to be designated as both a hurricane and a typhoon. Despite lasting for a full month, John barely affected land at all, bringing only minimal effects to the Hawaiian islands and a United States military base on Johnston Atoll. Its remnants later affected Alaska.