Hurricane Jimena intensifies, prompting warnings in Baja California Sur

As Southern Californians continue to deal with fire and smoke, residents and tourists in Baja California Sur are bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Jimena, an intense storm that might cause widespread flooding and damage.

The 8 a.m. Monday advisory from the National Hurricane Center positioned the eye of the storm 355 miles south-southeast of Cabo San Lucas. It's traveling to the northwest with maximum sustained winds of about 145 mph, making it a Category 4 hurricane. It will make landfall in the Magdalena Bay area late Tuesday or very early Wednesday.

The government of Mexico has issued a Hurricane Warning for the southern half of the state. That means hurricane conditions are likely within the next 24 hours.

Beachfront hotels are shoring up and fishing fleet crews from Cabo San Lucas to La Paz have been pulling boats from the water or moving them to safer areas.

Tracy Ehrenberg, general manager of Pisces Sportfishing in Cabo San Lucas, said Monday morning that seas were calm and the port was still open. In fact, Pisces has two charters today. Ehrenberg expects the typical chaos in advance of a hurricane -- long lines at gas stations, etc. -- to ensue throughout the day.

Mark Rayor, who runs Vista Sea Sport in Buena Vista in the East Cape, took delivery of a Cabo 35 fishing boat Friday in La Paz. A day after he drove the boat south to the East Cape, he drove it back to the protected harbor in La Paz. "The people I bought it from told me it was a lucky boat," he said. "I'm hoping they were right."If there's a silver lining, the region is drought-stricken and parched, and Jimena is already delivering showers. Said Eric Brictson, owner of Gordo Banks Pangas: "It has been a while since we have been hit, so this could be the one one that finally brings some much-needed rainfall."

Outposts will provide updates or new items on Jimena as warranted.--Pete Thomas

Hurricane Danny (1997)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Atlantic hurricane in 1997. For other storms of the same name, see Hurricane Danny was the only hurricane to make landfall in the United States during the 1997 Atlantic hurricane season, and the second hurricane and fourth tropical storm of the season. The system became the earliest 5th tropical or subtropical storm of the Atlantic season when it reached tropical storm strength on July 17, and held that record until the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season when Tropical Storm Emily broke that record by several days. Like the previous four tropical or subtropical cyclones of the season, Danny had a non-tropical origin, after a trough spawned convection that entered the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Danny had an extended northeast track through the Gulf of Mexico, caused by two high pressure systems, a rare occurrence in the middle of July. The storm moved across the southeastern United States, after making landfall in the Gulf Coast, and affected parts of Massachusetts with rain and wind.




Danny is noted for the extreme rainfall, tornadoes, and damage it produced on its path, causing four direct fatalities and $100 million (1997 USD, $128 million 2007 USD) in damage. The storm dropped a record amount of rainfall for Alabama, at least 36.71 inches (932 mm) on Dauphin Island. Flooding, power outages, and erosion occurred in many areas of the Gulf Coast, and rescues from flooded roads had to be performed. Various tornadoes on the East Coast caused a great amount of damage. Danny caused one death off the coast of Alabama, four deaths in Georgia, two deaths in South Carolina, and two deaths in North Carolina.

LOOK OUT! HERE IT COMES!

Tropical Storm DannyHurricane DannyHurricane Danny 2009


Tropical disturbance in the western Atlantic is developing a well-defined center of circulation and very likely will be designated Tropical Storm Danny later today, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm has top winds of 45 mph and is moving to the west-northwest at 18 mph. As of 11 a.m. EDT Wednesday, the storm’s center was about 445 miles (715 kilometers) east of Nassau, Bahamas and about 775 miles (1,250 kilometers) south of Cape Hatteras, N.C.

The current forecast has the storm on a path to clip the U.S. East Coast over the weekend, but a storm’s track can be difficult to predict days in advance. People in the Bahamas and the southeastern U.S. are advised to monitor the storm.

Meanwhile, far out in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Ignacio has weakened as it moves northwest with top winds of 45 mph.

Danny previously was used to name a July 1997 hurricane that brought record rain fall for Alabama, at least 36.71 inches on Dauphin Island. That storm was the only hurricane to make landfall in the United States during the 1997 Atlantic hurricane season.

Tropical wave brewing....expected to become Hurricane Danny

TAMPA – Forecasters seem confident the season’s fourth named Atlantic storm could appear today.

A tropical wave about 470 miles east of the Bahamas has the potential to become a tropical depression or storm at anytime as it enters a section of ocean where high level winds and water temperatures will make things cozy for a developing storm.

A hurricane hunter aircraft has been dispatched to explore the disturbance that is developing a well-defined circulation, a sign it’s working up to a tropical cyclone.

Forecasters believe the tropical wave will skip the depression level and go straight to a tropical storm.

Intensity models run early today already have the disturbance at tropical storm strength.
Most of those models also have the storm reaching hurricane strength around Sunday, though all project it staying below Category 2 strength.

It is heading to the west-northwest at about 15 mph, the National Hurricane Center says.
None of the track models have the system threatening Florida, but folks farther north on the East Coast may need to pay attention.

The track models are fairly well clustered and generally predict the storm will pass north of the Bahamas and curve toward Bermuda, similar to the path taken by Hurricane Bill, although the model tracks take the storm closer to the United States coast than Bill.

Some of the models have the storm going near the Carolinas or Virginia, but most show it heading toward the Canadian Maritimes by the end of the weekend.

If it becomes a storm, it would be named Danny.