Hurricane Eric moves inland after category 3, 3 Mexico lands, life-threatening floods, strong winds
Hurricane Eric is now moving inland and brings life-threatening rainfall floods and gusts after a historic landing in southern Mexico at 3-class intensity.
Erick quickly intensified from a 40 mph tropical storm Tuesday morning to a cat 4 intensity Thursday morning midnight. Six hours later, Erick said at the National Hurricane Center that Erick made landfall in Extreme Western Oaxaca State east of Punta Maldonado, with cats three times and cats three times and winds of 125 mph.
(More: Rating Hurricanes using Saffir-Simpson Scale)
Erick became the first Eastern Pacific hurricane to land in Mexico before August, with historical records dating back to the late 1950s. According to NOAA records, the earliest hurricane landing in western Mexico on August 26, 1989 was in Kitano, South Baja Peninsula on August 26, 1989.
Weather.com
Erick became the Eastern Pacific’s second hurricane of the season in the early hours of Wednesday, four weeks ahead of the average second hurricane pace this season. The fifth storm of the season is historically July 23, based on the 1991-2020 average.
forecast
– Scheduling, intensity: Now inland, Eric is expected to dissipate late tonight or early Friday, but will still whip parts of southern Mexico for the rest of the day.
Projection path
–Threats of wider rain: Oaxaca and Guerrero forecasts that the maximum total of 8 to 12 inches can be up to 16 inches locally. Life-threatening flash floods may be possible, and mudslides are a threat to the mountainous areas near the coast.
Puerto Rico Escondido, coastal Oaxaca, has seen at least 10.75 inches of rain on Thursday morning.
Rainfall forecast
– Local impact: Erick’s worst wind shadows will follow the coasts of western Oaxaca and eastern Guerrero, but gusts of wind will enter southern Mexico today. These biggest threats will be east of Acapulco, but there will also be strong winds and gusts in cities, especially on higher terrain.
(More: Atlantic hurricane season may be “June 0”. Does that matter?)
