Hurricane Paul threatens Mexico and southern Baja California by Steph Ball
Tropical storm Paul developed off the coast of Mexico and continued to strengthen over this weekend, where it eventually gained hurricane status on Sunday. This makes Paul the ninth hurricane of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season.
Its forecast track over the next few days has it making landfall in Baja California on Tuesday, before moving on to mainland Mexico near the state of Sinaloa. In response, the Mexican government has issued a hurricane watch for the Baja California peninsula, north to Agua Blanca and east to La Paz.
If it makes landfall as forecast, Paul will be the third hurricane to make landfall in this Eastern Pacific hurricane season. Hurricane’s John and Lane both made landfall in September, threatening a good part of the Mexican coastline. Both these hurricanes have made it into the top ten of costliest Eastern Pacific hurricanes on record.
John made landfall on southeastern Baja California on September 1st with winds over 110mph. This resulted in the evacuation of tens of thousands of people with an estimated 60.8 million US dollars of damage.
Hurricane Lane made landfall in the state of Sinaloa on September 16th with winds of 115mph, but with an estimated cost of damage put at 110 million US dollars.
Paul has just been upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane this morning, with maximum sustained winds near 100mph. It is forecast to strengthen a little further over the next 24hours.
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