 Hurricane Pauline was one of the deadliest Pacific hurricanes to make landfall in Mexico . The sixteenth tropical storm , eighth hurricane , and seventh major hurricane of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season , Pauline developed out of a tropical wave from Africa on September 16 , 1997 , moving across South America and into the Pacific Ocean . On October 5 , the depression intensified into a tropical storm early the next day and by October 7 , Pauline had reached hurricane intensity . It initially moved eastward , then turned northwestward and quickly strengthened to reach peak winds of 135 mph ( 215 km / h ) . It paralleled the Mexican coastline a short distance offshore before weakening and making landfall near Puerto Angel , on October 9 , and dissipated the next day . 
