At first, forecasters were warning that Patricia was the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, but on Friday, the head of the Mexican agency that includes the national weather service, Robert Ramirez de la Parra, said the excessive wind speeds recorded so far “makes Patricia the most dangerous storm in history.”
The category 5 storm is poised to make landfall in the Mexican state of Jalisco sometime this evening, possibly around 6 or 7 p.m. ET. With winds spanning 60 miles, when the storm hits, it is expected to devastate the coast of Mexico as it continues its northward track.
A popular tourist destination, Puerto Vallarta and the adjoining states of Colima and Nayarit will be almost directly in the storm’s path as well as Mexico’s second largest city, Guadalajara. Anyone who decides to hunker down and ride the storm out could be putting their very lives in danger. Besides the extremely damaging winds, there will be flooding, and a 30-foot storm surge.
According to CNN News, roads outside the projected path of Hurricane Patricia have already been closed, and coastal flooding has already been seen as the storm moves closer to landfall. In its 1 p.m. advisory, the National Hurricane center warned: “RAINFALL LEADING TO LIFE-THREATENING FLASHING FLOODING AND MUDSLIDES THROUGH TONIGHT. THIS RAINFALL COULD CONTINUE INTO SATURDAY AFTER PATRICIA IS WELL INLAND.”
Hurricane Patricia’s impact on U.S.
The remnants of Hurricane Patricia are expected to drift eastward across Mexico toward the Texas gulf coast. There it will be “picked up” says the National Weather Service, and taken on a track up through the central part of the country. All that tropical moisture will hit the Tennessee and upper Ohio valleys, reaching the Northeast by next Wednesday. Texas and Louisiana could see up to a foot of rain from Patricia.
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