Erick Rapidly Strengthens into a Category 4 Hurricane, Strikes Southwest Mexico as a Major Hurricane
Erick made landfall in the state of Oaxaca along Mexico’s Pacific coast early Thursday with 125 mph winds
In less than 24 hours, Erick rapidly strengthened from a 65 mph tropical storm to a potentially catastrophic 145 mph Category 4 hurricane as it neared Mexico’s southwest coastline between Acapulco and Puerto Escondido.
The hurricane weakened slightly below its peak before roaring ashore as a still major Category 3 hurricane near the border of Oaxaca and Guerrero states in southern Mexico around 6 AM local (8 AM ET) Thursday.
In addition to destructive winds, battering waves, and a dangerous and life-threatening storm surge, up to 16 inches of rainfall is forecast inland over the next few days, bringing the threat of widespread flooding and mudslides to the high terrain of the Sierra Madre del Sur along Mexico’s Pacific coast.
Major Hurricane Erick lands in uncharted territory
Erick is the third major (Category 3 or stronger) hurricane to hit the region in less than two years, a stretch of Mexico’s coastline previously unfamiliar with strong hurricanes. Besides Category 5 Otis in October 2023 and Category 3 John last September, no other Category 3 or stronger hurricane has struck so far south along Mexico’s Pacific coast.
Erick is only the 17th major (Category 3 or stronger) hurricane to hit Mexico’s Pacific coast on record (since 1949) and the earliest landfalling major hurricane on record in the eastern Pacific by a wide margin (more than two months!).
Although hurricanes can undergo rapid intensification this time of year in the eastern Pacific, such events are far less common than from July through October.
Regardless, an 80 mph increase in maximum winds in just 24 hours is in the upper echelon of rapid intensification episodes for the eastern North Pacific and is almost unheard of before July, happening only twice previously – Hurricane Amanda in 2014 and Hurricane Carlotta in 2000.
Only 15 tropical cyclones of the nearly 1250 on record in the eastern Pacific since 1949 have undergone such an explosive period of strengthening. Erick was truly a top 1 percenter in all the wrong ways.
Atlantic remains quiet
Meanwhile, on this side of Mexico, the Atlantic will be staying quiet for the foreseeable future, with no development expected through the weekend and into next week.
I am so sorry for those people and animals who will suffer from Erick. We get all the rest but at least we don't have mudslides here. I hope all stay safe.