A tropical depression first developed on September 14 over the Pacific Ocean west of the Mexican coast. Six hours later, the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Norbert. Norbert reached hurricane status on September 16, and shortly thereafter Norbert became a hurricane. On September 17, Norbert was upgraded to a major hurricane (Category 3 or higher). Meanwhile, Norbert meandered. At 0000 UTC, September 21, Norbert reached its peak intensity of . Shortly after its peak, Hurricane Norbert began to turn to the northwest.