Mexico's Pacific coast is in the crosshairs of Hurricane Patricia, which became the most powerful tropical cyclone ever measured in the Western Hemisphere on Friday morning as its maximum sustained winds reached an unprecedented 200 mph (320 kph).
The hurricane is forecast to make landfall in the Mexican state of Jalisco Friday evening as a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane capable of causing widespread destruction. Residents and authorities in Mexico are rushing to prepare for what will likely be the strongest hurricane to ever make landfall on that country's Pacific coastline.
http://www.weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/hurricane-patricia-mexico-coast
That is one nasty storm!
This is pretty historic. 200+ mph sustained winds? That's insane!
The water off that coast of Mexico must be really warm to give it that much energy. I wonder why?
Combination of strong El Nino, which has produced warm waters and low shear, and a very intense Kelvin wave cycle have merged. It will strengthen all the way up to landfall. Its possible 210-2220 MPH sustained winds at landfall. Which, if that is the case would be an F-4 Tornado on the Fujita scale, by the way. No building near the coast will survive and damage will be very extensive pretty far inland as well. There is a high chance of catastrophic loss of life and property for those unlucky enough to be unable to get out. The weather channel isn't even sending anyone to live cover the coastal landfall. Its too dangerous. Prayers are being sent up.
Puerto Vallarta is delightful; I hope they come out as best as they can.
For anyone interested, here is a webcam that is just south of where the storm will officially make landfall (any minute now as of 6:30 pm eastern time). It is right on the coast so you can see the waves and some trees with branches down already.
http://myearthcam.com/lamanzanilla (http://myearthcam.com/lamanzanilla)
UPDATE: Nevermind, about 2 minutes after I posted this, the webcam stopped recording
I guess that I may be wrong; but, I thought during Camille in 1969 that an oil platform off of Louisiana recorded winds of 227 MPH. That would from a wind standpoint make Camille the strongest storm ever? Maybe not being an official Weather Service station the reading does not count? Of course strength also includes air pressure and storm surge in the measurements! :)
Quote from: brucef58 on October 24, 2015, 12:11:14 PM
I guess that I may be wrong; but, I thought during Camille in 1969 that an oil platform off of Louisiana recorded winds of 227 MPH. That would from a wind standpoint make Camille the strongest storm ever? Maybe not being an official Weather Service station the reading does not count? Of course strength also includes air pressure and storm surge in the measurements! :)
I searched for that report of 227 mph, but I couldn't find it. Even if it did occur, a wind report from an oil rig will never be considered an accurate measurement because they are raised 100-400 feet above the surface. Officially, the strongest storm ever was Typhoon Nancy in the Northwest Pacific which reached an unofficial 215 mph with higher gusts. However, Patricia is now the strongest storm on record with verified winds. Camille officially peaked at 175 mph winds, but the hurricane hunters stopped flying into it about a day before landfall due to instrument problems. I did find reports of 200 mph gusts from Camille, but they were all unofficial and most official stations broke before they received the strongest winds from the storm, so the landfall strength will never be known.
The National Hurricane Center's record of strength does not focus on wind speed so much as pressure. In that sense, Camille is the 6th most intense hurricane in the Atlantic since reliable records began. The record holder in that category is Wilma in the Atlantic and Patricia by a lot in the eastern Pacific.
The other factor you mentioned of the storm surge isn't really a factor determining strength, but it can be a result of strength. There are a lot of different factors that create storm surge. It is worth noting that Camille has the 2nd highest storm surge in the Atlantic behind only Katrina. It likely doesn't compete though when comparing it to some of the typhoons in the Pacific.
In case you can't tell, I am majoring in meteorology right now because of my fascination with tropical cyclones. I don't mean to totally nullify your post, it is just one of my favorite things to research storms and write about what I find. Camille was a storm that I have never really researched until now.
Quote from: Jax-Nole on October 24, 2015, 03:09:47 PM
Camille was a storm that I have never really researched until now.
Thanks for the info!
So this storm caused surprisingly little damage:
http://www.vox.com/2015/10/26/9615274/hurricane-patricia-aftermath
http://time.com/4086096/hurricane-patricia-damage-explainer-mexico/
I'm obsessed with hurricanes, love reading up on them, their structure, wind fields, central pressure, storm surge etc. I drove straight into the path of Charley, Francis and Jeanne just for the experience back in 2004. (Well, drove ahead of the storm and got in place in a safe structure)
This one had a tiny maximum wind field apparently. Cat 5 winds only extended out from the center 15 miles.Not sure how far out the hurricane force winds extended but it hit a remotely populated area causing little property damage. And mountains always weaken a hurricane quickly, like they did with Patricia.
They compared this one to Charley a lot actually. Compact center, only caused damage over a small area. But with Charley it hit a much more densely populated area. By the time it passed over me in Daytona it was only a cat 1, maybe weak cat 2 but it still blew out windows and ripped a few rooftops off.
So compare a storm like this with one say, the size of Jeanne or Francis. Those weren't as strong but their wind fields covered such a large, populated area. Francis was sloppy and engulfed the whole state. Jeanne was a little more organized and the winds kept me hunkered down for about 8 hours. Ok, i'm getting overly excited with hurricane chasing memories...back on topic:
This guy chased Patricia and was in the eye wall, said it was the strongest one he's ever experienced:
https://www.facebook.com/iCyclone
Again, so much more to a hurricane than just the top wind speed. It all has to do with where it's going to hit, how wide the radius of hurricane force winds are etc. Mexico's pretty lucky on this one.