Hurricane Patricia slams into Mexican coast

The Latest: Patricia weakens as it moves inland over Mexico

By The Associated Press
Oct. 24, 2015

Saturday

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami says Hurricane Patricia has weakened to a Category 2 storm, with sustained winds of 100 mph (155 kph).

The storm made landfall Friday evening on Mexico's Pacific coast as a monstrous Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph (270 kph).

But it is rapidly losing steam as it moves over a mountainous region inland from the shore.

Early Saturday, its center was about 135 miles (215 kilometers) southwest of Zacatecas, Mexico.

Authorities say that so far there are reports of flooding and landslides, but no word of fatalities or major damage.

"Caelon" said
There was a link to El Nino on CBC and how it will reduce hurricanes this year. We used to hear a lot about El Nino and La Nina as they had a huge impact on the expected winter conditions. With the El Nino being one of the biggest on record western Canada should have a very mild winter.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/el-ni ... -1.3191510

Ironically, El Niño and wind shear have combined to create a weaker than usual hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, according to Kottlowski.

If you’ve ever played with a spinning top, you know that if you tilt the top, it will fall over, Kottlowski said: “It’s the same thing with the atmosphere. What it’s basically doing is all the thunderstorms are getting blown off to the right or the left.”

The fast-moving winds from the west and resulting wind shear are cutting tropical storms to ribbons.

“In the Atlantic Basin, it’s pretty typical when there’s an El Niño that you don’t see as many storms developing. I looked at a graph of the shear across the Caribbean. It’s probably the strongest shear that we’ve seen across the Caribbean. That’s why there have been fewer storms,” Kottlowski said.

"ShepherdsDog" said
It died pretty quick. The thing to watch for now is torrential rain. Whenever we got hit by typhoons, it was usually the day after the storm that seriously heavy rain hit.

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico -- Record-breaking Hurricane Patricia appeared to leave remarkably little damage as it moved rapidly inland over mountainous western Mexico early Saturday and weakened to tropical depression status, though authorities warned it could still cause deadly floods and mudslides.

Patricia, which peaked as the strongest hurricane on record in the Western Hemisphere, made landfall Friday on a sparsely populated stretch of Mexico's Pacific coast as a Category 5 storm, avoiding direct hits on the resort city of Puerto Vallarta and major port city of Manzanillo.

There were reports of some flooding and landslides, but no word of fatalities or major damage as the storm pushed across inland mountains while bypassing the metropolis of Guadalajara overnight.

Mexican plea for climate consensus as hurricane nears


Bonn (AFP) - Mexico's climate negotiator issued a tearful plea Friday to UN colleagues to put aside their differences for a global pact, as a superhurricane headed for his country.

"In about four hours, Hurricane Patricia will hit the Mexican coast," Roberto Dondisch said at the closing session of a fraught round of negotiations in Bonn. "I don't think I need to say more about the urgency to get this deal done"

"N_Fiddledog" said
Also the possibilities of what effect this year's weather phenomena they were calling 'the Blob' off the coast of the Pacific Northwest could have when it met the coming Monster El Nino was being discussed earlier in the summer.

What happens when ‘the blob’ meets Godzilla El Niño? Climate chaos and more hot, dry weather for B.C.

I don't know. We might see some crazy weather in BC yet.

"N_Fiddledog" said
It's coming in off the Pacific.

That's different.

Wonder if El Nino will send anything as far north as Van this year.

It's been awhile.