yikes... er... I got a planned vacay in Puerto Vallarta Nov 28th...should I cancel?! if that place gets hit hard with this storm, it'll take months to rebuild!
"This is really, really, really strong," said the World Meteorological Organization, while the US National Hurricane Center warned it could be like a "nuclear detonation".
Hurricane Patricia bears down on Mexico - CNN.com
(CNN)—Patricia -- the strongest hurricane ever recorded -- barreled closer and closer Friday to Mexico's Pacific coast, where residents have been told to brace for its 200-mph sustained winds and torrential rains.
The excessive wind speeds, according to the head of the Mexican agency that includes its national weather service, "makes Patricia the most dangerous storm in history."
By that, CONAGUA director Robert Ramirez de la Parra meant any cyclone ever measured not just in and around Mexico, but anywhere in the world.
Ramirez de la Parra predicted Hurricane Patricia will make landfall somewhere on the coast of Jalisco state -- which includes the tourist hotspot of Puerto Vallarta and is also close to Manzanillo and Colima -- between 5 and 6 p.m. CT (6 and 7 p.m. ET). But its impact should be felt much sooner, with 100 kph (62 mph) winds lashing the region in the early afternoon.
While its strength could fluctuate, "Patricia is expected to remain an extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane through landfall," the U.S. National Weather Center said in its 1 p.m. CT (2 p.m. ET) advisory.
Already, Patricia is "the strongest hurricane on record in the National Hurricane Center's area of responsibility (AOR) which includes the Atlantic and the eastern North Pacific basins," according to a Friday morning forecast discussion.
The closest contender, at this point, might be Hurricane Camille, which battered the U.S. Gulf Coast in 1969. Patricia looks to be more powerful than that storm, as well as stronger than Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Katrina in 2005 and many others.
It's already surpassed them in one way: its central pressure reading -- the weight of the air above a system -- which is a key measure of any storm's strength.
Live updates on Hurricane Patricia
The midday Friday central pressure recording of 879 millibars (the barometric pressure equivalent is 25.96 inches) "is the lowest for any tropical cyclone globally for over 30 years," according to the Met Office, Britain's weather service.
Patricia's intensity is comparable to Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines in 2013, the World Meteorological Organization tweeted. More than 6,000 people died in Haiyan, due largely to enormous storm surges that rushed through coastal areas. Haiyan had 195-mph sustained winds when it made landfall, while Typhoon Tip was at 190 mph (and had a slightly lower pressure reading of 870 millibars) in 1979.
