BajaNews - 11-16-2006 at 05:27 PM
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bon...
Nov 16, 2006
By Frank Jack Daniel
MEXICO CITY, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Rare mid-November cyclone Hurricane Sergio sprayed rain on Mexico's Pacific resort city of Acapulco on Thursday, but
the storm lost power as it headed toward tourist hot spots like Los Cabos.
Now a weaker Category 1 hurricane, Sergio carried winds of 80 mph (128 kph) and was moving slowly northward, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Sergio would likely weaken further as stronger winds in the upper atmosphere disrupted the storm, the Miami-based forecasters said.
The center of the storm was 344 miles (555 km) off the coast of Acapulco, Mexican forecasters said, but it brought rain to the once-glamorous resort
city, made famous in the 1950s by Hollywood stars like Errol Flynn.
Sergio was moving slowly up the Pacific coast and was on track to brush past the resort towns of Los Cabos, tourist destinations on the Baja
California peninsula fashionable among Americans, as a weaker tropical storm early next weak.
"Right now, our four- to five-day view still has the southern tip of Baja and Los Cabos in the area," said National Hurricane Center expert Michelle
Mainelli. "However, by the time it's up there, we are anticipating it to be more of a tropical storm."
Three hurricanes forecast to hit the Los Cabos resort towns earlier this year veered away at the last minute.
Mexico's Pacific coast has been blitzed with hurricanes and storms this year, while its Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico coasts have seen little activity.
The eastern Pacific has not seen a storm as strong as Sergio so late in the season since officials began keeping records.
Mainelli said the busier Pacific storm season, and the less active Atlantic season, were partly a result of the El Nino weather phenomenon.
In October, Hurricane Paul killed three people in northwestern Mexico. In September, Hurricane Lane took three lives along the Pacific coast and
Hurricane John killed at least three people in Baja California.
As a Category 1 hurricane, Sergio is capable of destroying trailer homes and uprooting trees, and forecasters warned people to be vigilant if it moved
closer to land.
"Mexico stay tuned," the U.S. center said. "There is some uncertainty in the forecast and a track closer to the coast is still possible." (Additional
reporting by Gunther Hamm)
Bob and Susan - 11-17-2006 at 06:47 AM
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