2023-10-21 15:00:00
(CNN) —Hurricane Norma is expected to hit Mexico’s popular resort area of Los Cabos from the Pacific Ocean this Saturday with destructive winds, flash flooding and a dangerous storm surge, even as another hurricane ravages island nations in the Atlantic.
Norma, a Category 2 storm at 11 a.m. ET, is expected to move over or near parts of Mexico’s Baja California Sur, including Cabo San Lucas, this Saturday followingnoon or early evening. the National Hurricane Center said.
Norma will weaken when it makes landfall in the followingnoon, but it will still be a hurricane that might bring life-threatening conditions to a tourist region that is home to a few hundred thousand people, the hurricane center said.
Meanwhile, in the Atlantic Ocean, Hurricane Tammy (a Category 1 storm as of Saturday morning) triggered hurricane warnings for parts of the Leeward Islands, a chain of several island nations and territories between the Caribbean Sea and the open Atlantic. Tammy’s winds increased to 135 kilometers per hour.
Neither storm is a threat to the United States.
As for Norma: With maximum sustained winds of up to 100 miles per hour, its center was regarding 30 miles west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas late Saturday morning, and rain and tropical storm conditions were already in place. making landfall, the hurricane center said.
The hurricane is expected to make landfall before crossing the southern part of Baja California in the followingnoon and emerging over the southern Gulf of California on Sunday.
A hurricane warning was in effect for southern Baja California Sur, including Cabo San Lucas.
A dangerous storm surge “will likely produce coastal flooding in onshore wind areas within the hurricane warning area” this Saturday, the hurricane center said.
“Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves,” he added.
Norma will bring heavy rain and flooding to the area. Rainfall totals of 150 to 300 millimeters are possible with isolated totals approaching 450 mm.
The weakening cyclone should turn northeast and east-northeast and slowly approach the Sinaloa coast in western Mexico from Sunday night to early Monday, according to the center. hurricanes.
Norma is forecast to move inland early Monday and dissipate over the rugged terrain of western Mexico on Tuesday.
Hurricane Tammy heads for the Leeward Islands
In the Atlantic, Tammy strengthened slightly with maximum sustained winds of 135 km/h and was centered regarding 80 kilometers east-southeast of Guadeloupe, the National Hurricane Center said at 11 a.m. ET.
Tammy is expected to move near or over parts of the Leeward Islands, including Guadeloupe and Antigua and Barbuda, through Saturday night, and then move north of the Leeward Islands on Sunday.
Hurricane-force winds extended up to 40 kilometers from the center of the storm and tropical storm-force winds extended up to 200 kilometers.
Hurricanes in this part of the Atlantic are rare in late October. Tammy is only the third hurricane to form in this far southeastern Atlantic since 1900, according to hurricane expert Michael Lowry.
It is also the most recent hurricane to form in this part of the Atlantic since 1966, according to Phil Klotzbach, a research scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at Colorado State University.
Hurricane experts previously warned that hurricanes might form in unusual areas later in this year’s season due to exceptionally warm Atlantic Ocean temperatures.
Storm surges of 0.30 to 0.90 meters are possible in parts of the Leeward Islands.
Heavy rain will be one of the storm’s most serious threats and might cause flash flooding and landslides. Rainfall totals in the Leeward Islands are expected to be 100 to 200 millimeters, but might reach 300 mm in places where the heaviest rainfall accumulates. Rainfall should be lighter in Puerto Rico and the British and US Virgin Islands, where 25 to 50 mm is most likely to fall.
Conditions will begin to improve from south to north across the island chain late Sunday as the storm moves north out of the region.
With Tammy in the Atlantic, only two names (Vince and Whitney) remain on the standard list of Atlantic storm names before the hurricane center turns to an alternative list of names.
CNN’s Sara Tonks, Phil Gast and Keith Allen contributed to this report.
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