Ekeka continued westward, passing through the Marshall Islands and later over Chuuk State, before dissipating on February 9 about 310 miles (500 km) off the north coast of Papua New Guinea.

During the El Niño of 1991–92, as typical with other such events, the monsoon trough extended into the central north Pacific Ocean, which is the body of water between the International Date Line and 140°W.

[2] The Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) began monitoring the system on January 26,[3] while it was located about 950 miles (1,530 km) south of Ka Lae, the southernmost point in Hawaii.

[4] The disturbance organized further as it tracked westward, and on January 28 it developed into Tropical Depression One-C, located a short distance north of Kiritimati and east of Tabuaeran.

Ekeka continued gradually intensifying while moving slowly west-northwestward, and it attain hurricane status on January 30 about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Palmyra Atoll.

Later that day, it crossed the International Date Line into the western Pacific Ocean;[2] both of the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) and the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) assessed the storm's winds at 50 mph (80 km/h).