Mexico escapes major damage from monster Hurricane Patricia

Just hours before it made landfall in the Mexican state of Jalisco, Hurricane Patricia was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded by the US’ National Hurricane Center (NHC).

By the time Patricia reached the coast maximum sustained windspeeds had fallen from about 200mph to 165mph, making it a category 5 storm.

Hurricane Patricia still brought powerful winds, torrential rains and damaging storm surge, but to a relatively sparsely populated stretch of the Jalisco coastline.

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According to the NHC, Patricia made landfall at around 6:15 pm local time on Friday, 23 October.

It struck near the town of Cuixmala in Jalisco state in southwestern Mexico, between the resort city of Puerto Vallarta and the major port city of Manzanillo.

Fortunately the wind field was relatively small. Category 5 wind speeds extended just 15 miles from the centre of the storm and hurricane-force winds extended outward just 35 miles from its eye.

Patricia’s forward speed at landfall was 20 mph and this fast movement helped to limit rainfall accumulation, said AIR.

As the storm weakened it moved inland and interacted with Mexico’s mountainous terrain. It was, however, still a Category 3 hurricane five hours after landfall, with sustained winds of 120 mph.

The NHC officially downgraded Patricia to tropical storm status on Saturday morning and then to a tropical low a few hours later.

Hurricane Patricia did not make a direct hit on the coastal exposures of Puerto Vallarta or Manzanillo, where much weaker winds and storm surge were experienced than in the vicinity of landfall. The storm also missed the major city of Guadalajara as it tracked inland.

Indications are that damage has not been as severe as feared, although a more complete picture will emerge as communications are reestablished and surveys are undertaken in mountainous inland locations, said AIR.

According to AIR, some structural damage to homes and businesses occurred as a result of fallen trees. Severe damage, however, has been limited, it added.