PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico -- Hurricane Patricia began as a tropical depression off Mexico on Tuesday morning. It grew into a tropical storm by Tuesday evening and became a hurricane early Thursday morning. Winds strengthened from 85 mph to 160 mph between 4 a.m. and 10 p.m. CDT Thursday.
Winds increased to 200 mph by 4 a.m. CDT Friday. This makes Patricia the strongest hurricane ever in the eastern North Pacific Ocean, and the strongest in the western hemisphere. The barometer reading in the center dropped to 25.99"/880 mb.
Patricia is slated to make landfall east of Puerto Vallarta by Friday evening as a catastrophic category 5 hurricane. Category 5 includes winds of 157 mph or higher, and Patricia's winds will be near 200 mph.
Obviously, the effects from this hurricane will be enormous. In addition to the wind speed, there will be major flooding from heavy rainfall (possibly up to 20") and storm surge.
Once inland, Patricia will weaken rapidly, but will continue to dump heavy rainfall across Mexico. The moisture will spread into Texas, adding to the heavy rainfall the area has already seen from a different system. Some of this moisture will get drawn into a storm system that will impact us next Wednesday.
The up-to-the-minute stats and forecast track can be found in the CBS 6 Hurricane Tracker.
