Hurricane Willa has quickly strengthened into a deadly Category 4 storm and will intensify further this week in wake of low wind shear and warm water temperatures.
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Consequently, we can expect torrential rainfall setting off a potentially damaging storm surge over the Pacific Coast of Mexico by the middle of the week.
To add to the woes, the Tropical Storm Vicente will also threaten Mexico with heavy downpours in the coming days.
Vicente and Willa together have made a record-breaking hurricane season in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
At present, storm Willa is heading north-northwestwards, however, the system will gradually recurve northwards on Monday and then north-northeastwards by Tuesday.
The landfall is most likely to be along the southwestern coast of mainland Mexico by late Tuesday between north of Mazatlan to Puerto Vallarta.
A hurricane watch has been issued from San Blas to Mazatlan and north of Mazatlan to Bahia Tempehuaya. A tropical storm warning is also in effect from Playa Perula to San Blas.
As per weathermen, winds would gust at a speed of 62-117 kmph during early morning hours of Tuesday and by the latter half of the day, winds would reach up to 119 kmph along the coastline. These intense winds would bring down trees, snap power lines and could cause structural damage.
At the time of landfall, the wind shear could pick up prompting debilitating of the system, however, it should still remain a strong and dangerous hurricane while moving inland late Tuesday and into Wednesday.
More than 300 mm of rain is expected to batter Western Jalisco, Western Nayarit and Southern Sinaloa in Mexico triggering floods and landslides. Rough surf would begin along the southwestern and west-central Mexico coastline that is conducive to a high risk of rip currents.
On the other hand, the hurricane Vicente would stay offshore or near the southern coast of Mexico, weakening to a tropical depression through Tuesday morning. It would also cause torrential downpours of about 70 to 150 mm of rain in parts of Southern Mexico with over 250 mm over pockets of Guerrero, Michoaca, Colima and Jalisco causing flash flooding and landslides.
Image Credit: straitstimes.com
