The 1973 Pacific hurricane season was an event in tropical cyclone meteorology. The most important system this year was Hurricane Ava, which was the most intense Pacific hurricane known at the time. Several other much weaker tropical cyclones came close to, or made landfall on, the Pacific coast of Mexico. The most serious of these was Hurricane Irah, which downed power and communication lines in parts of the Baja California Peninsula; the other landfalling storms caused rain and some flooding. No tropical cyclone this season caused any deaths. This season had a quick start but a slow end. Overall activity was below average, with twelve named systems in total. Seven storms became hurricanes, of which three were major (Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale). Just one storm formed in August, one of the least active Augusts ever in the east Pacific. The season officially started May 15, 1973, in the eastern Pacific, and June 1, 1973, in the central Pacific, and lasted until November 30, 1973. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. All tropical cyclones this season formed in the eastern north Pacific Ocean, often off the coast of Mexico. As is usual in the northern hemisphere, most traveled generally westward or northwestward, and two reached as far as the waters south of the Hawaiian Islands. Season summary The season began with the formation of the pre-Ava tropical depression on June 2 and ended with the dissipation of Tropical Lillian on October 9. The season lasted a total of 129 days. No named storms formed in May, three in June, four in July, one in August, three in September, one in October, and none in November. Another six tropical depressions formed during the year, but data on them is unavailable. All of these tropical cyclones formed in the eastern north Pacific tropical cyclone basin, which encompasses the Pacific Ocean north of the equator east of 140°W. None formed in the central north Pacific, which is the remainder of the Pacific Ocean east of the international dateline. Of the tropical cyclones that formed this year, were twelve tropical storms and seven were hurricanes. Of those hurricanes, three of them were major hurricanes because they reached Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. These totals are all below the long-term averages of thirteen tropical storms,