MEXICO CITY — (CNN) With 200-mph sustained winds and even more powerful gusts, Hurricane Patricia was the strongest hurricane ever recorded by the U.S. National Hurricane Center as it bore down Friday on Mexico’s Pacific coast.
The Miami-based meteorological center, in its 5 a.m. advisory, warned of a “potentially catastrophic landfall in southwestern Mexico” later Friday. While its strength could fluctuate, “Patricia is expected to remain an extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane through landfall.”
Patricia has potential to cause massive death and destruction to a large swath of the Mexican Pacific coast, including the tourist hot spots of Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco.
Citing observations by hurricane hunters, 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 when it battered the U.S. Gulf Coast in 1969. Regardless, Patricia looks to be more powerful than Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Katrina in 2005 and many others.
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.
The latest storm was still far from land Friday morning, centered 160 miles (255 kilometers) south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico, and 235 miles south of Cabo Corrientes.
Moving to the north-northwest at a 12-mph clip, it’s forecast to pivot north before making landfall Friday afternoon or evening.
A hurricane warning, which means hurricane conditions were expected within 24 hours, extends from San Blas to Punta San Telmo. A larger area, from east of Punta San Telmo to Lazaro Cardenas, is under a hurricane watch.
Officials in Jalisco and Colima states canceled schools ahead of the arriving storm.
In addition to its powerful winds, Patricia is expected to dump 8 to 12 inches of rain — and possibly 20 inches in some spots — along the Mexican coast.
“These rains could produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides,” the National Hurricane Center said.
There will also be a significant storm surge, not to mention swells that “are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.”
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