"Strongest hurricane ever" bears down on Mexico
 

Thousands flee as fiercest-ever hurricane nears Mexico
Doyle Rice and David Agren,
USA TODAY 3:36 p.m. EDT
October 23, 2015

MONTERREY, Mexico — Tens of thousands of people were being evacuated Friday from Mexico's Pacific coast as the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere bore down on the popular tourist area packing sustained winds of 200 mph.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted the Category 5 Hurricane Patricia would make a "potentially catastrophic landfall" in southwestern Mexico later in the day.

The center described the storm as the most powerful ever recorded in the eastern Pacific or Atlantic basins. It warned of powerful winds and torrential rain that could bring life-threatening flash flooding and dangerous, destructive storm surge.

"Patricia is one of the strongest tropical cyclones globally ever observed," said WeatherBell meteorologist Ryan Maue, "based on lowest central pressure and maximum surface (and flight level) wind speed since the dawn of aviation-based reconnaissance in the 1940s."

Patricia's winds intensified a whopping 109 mph during Thursday, rising from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane. It was the fastest intensification ever recorded in the eastern Pacific Ocean, according to meteorologist Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University.

Roberto Ramirez, director of Mexico's National Water Commission, said Hurricane Patricia is powerful enough to lift up automobiles and destroy homes not sturdily built with cement and steel. The storm will also be able to drag people caught outside when it strikes. Those on the coast will be in the most danger, especially people living in the state of Jalisco, which has a l population of more than 7.3 million, he said.

In a Category 5 hurricane, a high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse, according to the hurricane center. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months, and most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/w...ured/74446334/

Well, that's pretty terrifying.

That thing looks huge. Mexico seems to get hurricanes a lot. What keeps them from forming and hitting SoCal?

Mexico, apparently.

I have to wonder if Baja helps to keep those away. :shrug:

What I want to know is how much of that rain may make up here to Texas. We could certainly use it (although we are getting quite a bit right now and more tomorrow. Yay!)

Hundreds of dollars worth of property damage expected.

Water temps, jetstreams, and such.

Typically the colder water. But with El Nino the storms have a better chance of staying together.

On another note my daughter and I did a cruise that stopped in Manzanillo and we toured Colima and some Mayan ruins around Comala. We really enjoyed that area more than any of the others we saw. This is the area that the is supposed to bear the brunt of the storm.

ROFL

LMAO

This could will be a significant humanitarian crisis. As the globe warms, places like the Gulf coast, the Pacific coast of Mexico and Central America, and the Caribbean are simply going to have to adapt to different weather patterns.

The economy will be devastated for years to come.

When I went to Madagascar, I made reservations about a year in advance at a hotel. You know, because I wanted to beat the summer crowds in Madagascar.

A few months later, a hurricane hit the island where I was going to be staying. The hotel was sending out updates afterward that sounded serious, with things like "80% of all structures were destroyed".

When I went there, I noticed that 80% of all structures were made out of bamboo and palm frond. It probably took them a month to rebuild.