This from Weather Underground... Category 3 Odile the Strongest Hurricane on Record to Hit Baja By: Dr. Jeff Masters , 2:00 PM GMT on September 15, 2014 Destructive Hurricane Odile powered ashore at Cabo San Lucas on Mexicos Baja Peninsula near 12:45 am EDT Monday as a Category 3 storm with 125 mph winds. Odile was the strongest hurricane on record to hit the Baja Peninsula, tied with Hurricane Olivia of 1967. An Air Force hurricane hunter plane was in Odile Sunday afternoon, and measured a surface pressure of 922 mb. This pressure puts Odile in pretty select company--only two other Eastern Pacific hurricanes have had lower pressures measured in them by the Hurricane Hunters (though a total of eleven Eastern Pacific hurricanes have had lower pressures, if we include satellite-estimated pressures.) The only major hurricane on record to affect Southern Baja was Hurricane Kiko of 1989, which moved ashore on the Gulf of California side of the peninsula just south of La Paz as a Category 3 storm with 120 mph winds. Damage from Odile will be heavy A Personal Weather Station in Santa Rosa, about 3 miles inland from the coastal city of San Jose del Cabo, recorded winds of 76 mph, gusting to 114 mph, between 11 - 11:30 pm local time Sunday night. The station measured 27.36 of rain, which I believe (and hope!) is erroneous. All other weather stations, including the official airport stations in San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, failed before the eye of the storm hit the coast. Storm chaser Josh Morgerman of iCyclone weathered the storm in a hotel in Cabo San Lucas. His reports last night paint a picture of an extremely violent and dangerous hurricane landfall: 9:20 pm. Front doors of hotel blew out of their frames while I was on with The Weather Channel. Weve now piled a mountain of furniture against the broken frames. Wind blowing into lobby. Building getting hammered. Screaming, roaring sounds. Whoa. Building just enveloped in raw power. 9:35 pm. We must be in inner eyewall. High-energy blasts of wind smashing building, finishing off doors. Violence. The mountain of furniture cant keep it out. Whoever said outer eyewall had the max winds was wrong-- inner *way* worse. 10 pm. Ears popping. Front entrance completely destroyed. Debris blowing by opening at great speeds. Car alarms going off. Rain and wind enveloping lobby. 10:10 pm. Sounds of trains going by, with whistling. Ears hurt from pressure. Large, thick plate-glass window just exploded-- didnt break, exploded. Interior walls vibrating. One of the worst cyclones Ive ever been in. Frightening. 10:35 pm. Its calming. Yes, I think its calming, praise the Lord. Barometer just dipping down to 949 mb now. 11:05 pm. Calm-- or what feels like calm when youre shell-shocked. Winds maybe 20 knots. Pressure 942.8 mb. People peeking outside, walking around. The front of the hotel looks like it was put through a blender. 11:25 am. Hissing sounds, and a low howl. A piece of tin tumbling across the parking lot. Pressure back up to 952 mb. The eye is passing and were going back into the cyclone. Midnight. CODE RED. At 11:46 pm, the backside of the eyewall hit-- no buildup-- just all of a sudden the howling and banging started up again. The hotel manager joked that it sounded like gunshots. Then at maybe midnight... BOOM!!!!! The entire glass wall of the lobby EXPLODED-- with glass, pieces of building, everything flying to the other end of the lobby. Like an explosion in an action movie. A hotel worker and I ducked under the reception counter-- I physically grabbed his head and pushed it under the counter. Glass was everywhere-- my leg gashed-- blood. We crawled into the office-- me, the worker, and the manager-- but the ceiling started to lift up. After five minutes of debate-- breathing hard like three trapped animals-- we made a run for it-- went running like HELL across the lobby-- which is now basically just OUTSIDE-- and made it to the stairwell and an interior hallway. Two nice women dressed my wound. I dont know where my cameradude, Steven, is. I need to find him. People are scared. 1 am. I found Steve-- we were tearfully reunited. I say tearfully because I was so happy to find him alive and OK in the chaos I got emotional. After roaming the flooded, dark hallways alone, I found him sheltered in a bathroom next to the lobby with two other guests. The lobby itself is a heap of wreckage. Steve was in the cloud of flying glass as that wall exploded. Like us, he had to run like hell-- and like me, he was bloodied. Steve saw me and my partners scampering like rats across the lobby earlier-- when we made our escape-- but I didnt hear his calling over the roar of the wind. What you see here is my leg-- dressed in a towel-- Steves wound dressed in duct tape, and a shoe he fashioned out of duct tape (because he lost his). Were in an interior hall now. Were OK. I think the wind is quieting down. I think. Parts of the hotel are smashed beyond recognition. Forecast for Odile Interaction with the rough terrain of the Baja Peninsula knocked Odile down to Category 2 strength with 110 mph winds by 8 am EDT Monday, and the storm will continue to steadily weaken as it moves along the peninsula and its circulation moves over cooler waters. Wind damage will continue to be a major concern through Monday evening, but by Tuesday, heavy rains will be the main concern. Odiles circulation is bringing up plenty of moisture from the Tropical Pacific and from Tropical Depression Sixteen to its southwest, and this moisture will create flooding rains over Northern Mexico and the Southwest U.S. beginning on Tuesday. The 06Z Monday run of the GFDL model put Central Arizona in the highest risk area for heavy precipitation from Odiles moisture. New tropical storm likely to form off the coast of Mexico this week Our top models for predicting genesis of tropical cyclones are keen on developing a broad area of low pressure located about 500 miles south-southeast of Acapulco, Mexico. This system is predicted to follow a northwesterly path parallel to the Pacific coast of Mexico, and might be a danger to Baja early next week. In their 8 am EDT Tropical Weather Outlook, NHC gave the disturbance 2-day and 5-day odds of development of 50% and 70%, respectively.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 14:11:55 +0000
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