Weather
“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.” National Hurricane Center today
Hurricane Patricia was measured today to be the strongest storm ever measured on planet Earth and it’s headed straight to Mexico. Meteorologists are forecasting 40-foot waves on the Mexican coast and “life-threatening” flooding and landslides.
NBC News meteorologist Bill Karins warns that this storm could be “the most devastating storm to ever hit Mexico” with “catastrophic damage.”
“Patricia is expected to remain an extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane through landfall.” – National Hurricane Center
According to the National Hurricane Center, up to 20 inches of rain is predicted for the Mexican states of Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan and Guerrero through Saturday.
Patricia is poised to make landfall with over 190mph winds.
At 5am PST, Patricia was 145 miles southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico.
Over 7 million residents were informed to prepare for “worst-case scenario” conditions as Patricia is forecast to slam into Mexico’s Pacific coastline betwen 9pm and 1am today.
Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo are directly in the path of the Category 5 hurricane today. Both are major tourist hubs.
Today, Patricia was displaying 200mph winds and a crazy low pressure of 880mb (25.99Hg) leading the US National Hurricane Center to describe the storm as the “strongest hurricane on record.”
The early morning Friday central pressure recording of 880 millibars “is the lowest for any tropical cyclone globally for over 30 years,” according to the Met Office, Britain’s weather service.
In 1959, a Category 5 hurrican hit Mexico near Manzanillo, killing 1,800 people. 800 of those people perished from landslides alone.
