a tropical storm early on September 10. Upon being designated, the cyclone was named Linda by the National Hurricane Center (NHC). As upper-level outflow became well-established, the storm began to strengthen quickly. By September 11, an intermittent eye appeared, by which time the NHC estimated that Linda reached hurricane status. The storm began to rapidly intensify; its small eye became well-defined and surrounded by very cold convection. In a 24‑hour period, the minimum pressure dropped , or an average drop of per hour. Such intensification met the criterion for explosive deepening, an average hourly pressure decrease of at least . By early September 12, Hurricane Linda reached Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson scale, and around 0600 UTC, Linda attained estimated peak winds of 185 mph (295 km/h) about 145 mi (235 km) southeast of Socorro Island. Its maximum sustained winds were estimated between 180 mph (285 km/h) and 195 mph (315 km/h), based on Dvorak T-numbers of 7.5 and 8.0 respectively, and gusts were estimated to have reached 220 mph (350 km/h). The hurricane's pressure is estimated at , making Linda the most intense Pacific hurricane at the time. When the storm was active, its pressure was estimated to have been slightly lower, at . Shortly after reaching peak intensity, Hurricane Linda passed near Socorro Island as a Category 5 hurricane. Around that time, tropical cyclone forecast models suggested that the hurricane would turn toward southern California due to an approaching upper-level trough. Had Linda struck the state, it would have been much weaker at that time, possibly moving ashore as a tropical storm. Instead, Hurricane Linda turned west-northwestward away from land in response to a building ridge to the north of the hurricane. Despite remaining away from land, moisture from the storm reached southern California to produce rainfall. On September 14, the Hurricane Hunters and airplanes from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration investigated the hurricane to provide better data on the powerful hurricane. Hurricane Linda quickly deteriorated as it tracked toward cooler waters, weakening to tropical storm status on September 15. Two days later, when located about west of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, it weakened to tropical depression status. Linda no longer met the criteria for a tropical cyclone by September 18, although its remnant circulation persisted for a few more days before dissipating. Forecasters and computer models did not anticipate how quickly Linda