Hurricane Patricia status thread

October 24, 2015 2:04 AM

So right now it seems like Hurricane Patricia might be one of the worst hurricanes ever. Is anyone on MeFi in its wake? Is there anything people can do to help?
posted by oceanjesse to MetaFilter-Related at 2:04 AM (16 comments total)

I'll note that this was submitted a couple of hours ago, by the way. I didn't see it right away because my email notification wasn't working for a bit. I think that Patricia has been downgraded, but still dangerous. Stay safe, everyone!
posted by taz (staff) at 2:09 AM on October 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

CNN:

Patricia roared into southwestern Mexico then rapidly crumbled Saturday, hours after it hit luxury resorts and impoverished villages with equal ferocity.

The strongest hurricane ever recorded at sea struck land Friday evening as a Category 5 storm, the fiercest level, with sustained winds of 165 mph.

But by 7 a.m. CT (8 a.m. ET), it was no longer even a hurricane, broken up by mountainous terrain. All coastal warnings and watches had been called off at that point because now-Tropical Storm Patricia, which had 50-mph sustained winds as it moved north-northeast at 21 mph.

"Rapid weakening is expected to continue, and Patricia is forecast to become a tropical depression later today and dissipate tonight," the National Weather Service said in in its latest advisory.

Stay safe, everyone.
posted by zarq at 6:30 AM on October 24, 2015

I noted this in the regular thread, too, but let's just take a moment to recall eriko's amazing comment from the Patricia thread, which broke down the dynamics of the storm before it hit, noting that while it was powerful, it was likely to be relatively compact. This was information I didn't see related anywhere else and it turned out to be prophetic.

The compact nature of the storm ended up causing it to be able to slip between major population centers, greatly limiting the damage it caused. People were still displaced and smaller towns still took heavy hits, but in the end, the destruction seems a sliver of what was predicted in most places.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:29 AM on October 24, 2015 [7 favorites]

The compact nature of the storm ended up causing it to be able to slip between major population centers, greatly limiting the damage it caused.

So true and almost worthy of being called a "miracle" to those so inclined. If it had passee directly through Puerto Vallarta or Manzanillo the reports would today be of tragedy and complete devastation. So happy Patricia took the course she did.

I'm in Monterrey where Patricia will surely come to "die". We're expecting a lot of rain later in the afternoon. Not much damage in itself, but the city is currently going through a pot-hole crisis (if such a thing exists) due to a terrible combination of a rainy spring and messy political campaigns/election in the summer. Hopefully many people use the weekend to stay at home and wait till the water drains away.
posted by CrazyLemonade at 9:56 AM on October 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Not to make it all about us, but we're also getting Patricia-related rain bands in Texas. Central Texas has flash floods but I think we'll all be fine if we just stay inside like they keep telling us to. Here in Austin, we have lots of cancellations for weather reasons, closing low-water crossings, the usual spots flooding, etc. My hometown friends in Houston and the coastal areas are supposed to get even more rain than we are here. In many ways Houston and Houstonians are better equipped to deal with flooding than we are in Austin, but things could be scary for the folks on the coast.

My friends are discussing the possibility that the center might make it all the way to the Gulf and reorganize and strengthen again, but the consensus (quoting the local hurricane experts) seems to be that conditions in the Gulf of Mexico won't be right for that. Fingers crossed.

As with many hurricanes, the terrifying thing is the buildup and then you just have to wait it out. I agree with those who think we were all extremely lucky about how the storm landed and its path. Even if everybody took what now seems to be excessive precautions, better to take them and hunker down than be caught unprepared by any hurricane, never mind one of Patricia's strength.
posted by immlass at 10:24 AM on October 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

Stay safe then too, Texas people. Looks like much of the rain was already there a few days ago and Patricia's weather system is making even more rain for you. Just lots and lots of water, ay.
posted by CrazyLemonade at 10:39 AM on October 24, 2015

I really, really hope Mexico got everyone out of La Barra de Navidad, but fortunately, the coast there rises rapidly & there's not a lot of low-lying ground to be flooded. Still I expect the coastal villages along there to be a total loss. Winds at 4 AM were still in the 60-70 mph range as it neared Zacatecas which is at 9000 ft. Pretty crazy. Almost swamped my car at one low-lying spot in the road on my way to work today & it's been raining steadily since in Austin, so yeah, low-water crossings, just don't do it. It takes about 6-8 inches of fast moving water to push a car sideways, & then here come the helicopters after your ass.

Hoping it doesn't get like memorial day did here, & anxiously awaiting news from Mexico.
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:29 AM on October 24, 2015

The United States Grand Prix was scheduled for this weekend at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, and the rain (and lightning) have been playing royal hob with that. Quals are scheduled for this afternoon but they may not be able to run them, which would be interesting. The second and third practice sessions were cancelled yesterday because of the rain. Also because the weather was so foul that the ambulance-chopper could not fly if it was needed.

They rescheduled P3 for this morning, but it was run before empty grand stands because of the danger of lightning strikes, not to mention torrential rain. And every car ran on full-wet tires the entire time.

I think they managed to get in two rounds of qualifications, but the third round has been postponed several times.

Kind of a "first world problem", to be sure...
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:44 PM on October 24, 2015

Small correction: they haven't run any qualification rounds.

And now back to your regularly scheduled weather catastrophe.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:03 PM on October 24, 2015

I was at the first practice yesterday and the staff was very busy with storm preparations. Can't prepare for lightening, I guess. A few roads are closed in the Hill Country as of this afternoon. What a relief that the damage so far has been minor in Mexico.
posted by colt45 at 3:08 PM on October 24, 2015

Is there a link to a specific relief fund/website (English) that might help victims of this particular storm for anyone interested in making a donation? I know there is one in the other thread but it is in Spanish, and I'm not too comfortable just randomly clicking on buttons and fields in another language when money is involved.
posted by Fizz at 3:28 PM on October 24, 2015

Minor drizzle here in Houston so far.

"I thought there was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom?"
posted by mrbill at 4:18 PM on October 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Just a reminder - people ultimately thought Hurricane Irene in 2011 was a big bunch of nothing - and then next year, when Sandy came....
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:41 PM on October 24, 2015

What I'm worried about is that these storms are dumping titanic amounts of water into the Mississippi watershed all at once.

What is that going to do to New Orleans? Will it hit all at once in a big pulse, or get spread out over a period of weeks?
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:36 PM on October 24, 2015

Well no matter what the rain does to NOLA, it won't be as bad as the storm surge-fueled bathtub of Lake Pontchartrain emptying into the city during Katrina.
posted by oceanjesse at 9:42 AM on October 25, 2015

The related front page post makes it sound like there wasn't too much damage, and LA Times is reporting zero deaths related to Patricia in the Western Hemisphere.

Skies are clear, highways are flowing with traffic and airports across the western coast of Mexico are open.
...
Two days after Hurricane Patricia made landfall, packing winds of 165 mph, the toll appears to be limited to flooding and wind damage to houses, power outages and small mudslides that briefly blocked some roadways.

It looks like the ever-informative eriko was accurate to call it an "incredibly dangerous storm. But it is also a small one" based on the forecast discussion.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:38 AM on October 26, 2015