Patricia, strongest recorded hurricane with 200-mph winds, menaces Mexico
CNN)With 200-mph sustained winds and even more powerful gusts, Hurricane Patricia was the strongest hurricane ever recorded by the U.S. National Hurricane Center as it bore down Friday on Mexico's Pacific coast.
The Miami-based meteorological center, in its 8 a.m. advisory, warned of a "potentially catastrophic landfall in southwestern Mexico" later Friday. While its strength could fluctuate, "Patricia is expected to remain an extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane through landfall."
Patricia has potential to cause massive death and destruction to a large swath of the Mexican Pacific coast, including the tourist hot spots of Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco.
Citing observations by hurricane hunters, Patricia is "the strongest hurricane on record in the National Hurricane Center's area of responsibility (AOR) which includes the Atlantic and the eastern North Pacific basins," according to a Friday morning forecast discussion.
The closest contender, at this point, might be Hurricane Camille when it battered the U.S. Gulf Coast in 1969. Regardless, Patricia looks to be more powerful than Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Katrina in 2005 and many others.
It's already surpassed them in one way, central pressure -- which essentially weighs the air above a system that's a key measure of any storm's strength.
The early Friday central pressure recording of 880 millibars (the barometric pressure equivalent is 25.98 inches) "is the lowest for any tropical cyclone globally for over 30 years," according to the Met Office, Britain's weather service.
The owner of the shop where I work grew up on a ranch about 70 miles from the coast in Jalisco; from the maps, it looks like the hurricane is going to pass right over. His family still own the ranch; hope they're battening down the hatches. From the photos I've seen and from his descriptions, it's pretty mountainous, with lots of narrow winding roads (two and a half hours to go 70 miles to the coast). I wonder how far inland the worst of the wind and rain will go...
70 miles in, the winds should be significantly diminished, (though when you're talking about a storm that starts out with 200 MPH sustained winds, they can still be pretty destructive) and mountainous terrain can also help to break down the storm system.
The biggest problem his family is likely to face is from flooding caused by the rainfall. How bad this will be will depend on the speed of the storm.
The only small positive is that the hurricane itself is physically small, so hopefully it blows through quickly.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
But at the eye, tornado force winds. Horrible. I hope everyone stays safe.
And there is no global warming? Storm severity just goes up and up and up.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
October 1979: Typhoon Tip - largest and most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded with wind speeds of 305km/h (190mph), killed 99 people in its path across the Pacific, mostly in Japan
August 1980: Hurricane Allen - strongest Atlantic hurricane by wind speed, with sustained winds of 305km/h, caused nearly 300 deaths in Haiti and severe damage in the US state of Texas
April 1991: Bangladesh cyclone known as 02B - at least 138,000 died and up to 10 million made homeless after a 6m storm surge
October 1991: Odisha or Paradip cyclone - the strongest ever recorded in the northern Indian Ocean, killed about 10,000 people, mostly in India
August 2005: Hurricane Katrina - killed at least 1,836 people after striking US states of Louisiana and Mississippi and was the costliest storm in history, causing $81.2bn in damage (with wind speeds of 280km/h)
October 2005: Hurricane Wilma - most intense tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin with wind speeds of 295km/h, killing 87 people on its path through the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico
November 2013: Typhoon Haiyan - the strongest storm recorded at landfall, with one-minute sustained wind speeds of 315km/h, it devastated parts of the Philippines, killing at least 6,300 people
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Joaquin was huge, but "only" topped out at Category 4 - 155 mph max winds.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
Guinevere wrote:But at the eye, tornado force winds. Horrible. I hope everyone stays safe.
And there is no global warming? Storm severity just goes up and up and up.
Same motives. Same methods.
“I don’t know the answer to that question. I don’t think science does, either.” Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), on whether human activity causes climate change, $508,549 from oil and gas industry in his career
RECENT REPORTS on experiments with mice have given wide publicity to a theory that cigarette smoking is in some way linked with lung cancer in human beings.
Although conducted by doctors of professional standing, these experiments are not regarded as conclusive in the field of cancer research. However, we do not believe results are inconclusive, should be disregarded or lightly dismissed. At the same time, we feel it is in the public interest to call attention to the fact that eminent doctors and research scientists have publicly questioned the claimed significance of these experiments.
Distinguished authorities point out:
That medical research of recent years indicates many possible causes of lung cancer.
That there is no agreement among the authorities regarding what the cause is.
That there is no proof that cigarette smoking is one of the causes.
That statistics purporting to link cigarette smoking with the disease could apply with equal force to any one of many other aspects of modern life. Indeed the validity of the statistics themselves is questioned by numerous scientists.
Hurricane Patricia has weakened rapidly over Mexico but authorities have warned of the risks of floods and landslides as it dumps heavy rain.
Patricia was the strongest storm ever recorded in the Americas when it ploughed into Mexico but has since been downgraded to a tropical depression.
Damage has been less than feared with populous regions spared.
But Patricia is still forecast to dump up to 20in (50cm) of rain, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
"These rains are likely to produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," the NHC added.
Before Patricia struck the coast, thousands of residents and tourists on Mexico's Pacific coast were evacuated and moved inland.
The storm made landfall in western Mexico on Friday, uprooting trees and flooding streets.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
