Hurricane Priscilla intensifies to category 2 as it advances through the Mexican Pacific

Hurricane Priscilla, which emerged as a tropical storm in the Mexican Pacific, intensified on the morning of this Tuesday to a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale and will cause heavy rains in three states of the country, reported the National Meteorological Service (SMN) of Mexico.

In a statement, the agency, dependent on the National Water Commission (Conagua), specified at 06:00 local time (12:00 GMT) the center of the hurricane was located 370 kilometers (km) south-southwest of Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur and 415 km west-southwest of Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco.

The phenomenon registers sustained maximum winds of 155 kilometers per hour (km/h), gusts of 195 km/h and is moving northwest at 17 km/h.

“Its cloud detachments will generate intense rains (from 75 to 150 millimeters [mm]) in southern Baja California Sur, central and southern Sinaloa, and northern and central Nayarit; heavy rains (from 25 to 50 mm) in Jalisco, Colima, and Michoacán,” the SMN pointed out.

In addition, Priscilla will generate winds of 60 to 70 km/h with gusts of 80 to 100 km/h in southern Baja California Sur; winds of 20 to 30 km/h with gusts of 40 to 60 km/h on the coast of Jalisco, and 10 to 25 km/h with gusts of 30 to 50 km/h on the coasts of Sinaloa, Nayarit, Colima and Michoacán.

Wave swells of 5 to 6 meters (m) high are also expected in southern Baja California Sur, 3 to 4 m high on the coasts of Nayarit and Jalisco, and 2 to 3 m high on the coasts of Sinaloa, Colima and Michoacán.

Based on the above, the SMN established a tropical storm watch zone from Cabo San Lucas to Cabo San Lázaro, in Baja California Sur.

According to forecasts, Priscilla will remain a Category 2 hurricane and will weaken between Wednesday and Thursday until it becomes a tropical storm again.

The rains could be with electrical discharges and generate waterlogging, landslides and floods in low-lying areas of the mentioned states.

In addition, the expected winds could knock down trees and billboards, so the authorities urge the population to heed the warnings of the SMN, follow the recommendations of Civil Protection, and take extreme precautions against high winds and waves.

So far, 16 storms have formed in the Mexican Pacific: Alvin, Bárbara, Cosme, Dalila, Erick, Flossie, Gil, Henriette, Ivo, Juliette, Kiko, Lorena, Mario and Narda, Octave and Priscilla.

Mexico anticipates the formation of up to 20 named cyclones in the Mexican Pacific during the current season, of which between four and six could reach categories 3, 4 or even 5.

The last hurricane that hit the country was Erick, which made landfall in southern Mexico on June 19 as a category 3 and caused damage in Oaxaca and Guerrero, where a minor died and left damage to the electrical infrastructure, homes and trees.