Hurricane/Cyclone/Typhoon Journal Entry
Powerful Hurricane Menaces Mexico (October 22, 2009)
Satellite view of Hurricane Rick in the eastern Pacific Ocean near the coast of southern Mexico this week. NASA.
Monstrous Hurricane Rick grew to Category 5 strength, the highest category, in the eastern Pacific Ocean off the southern coast of Mexico this week. At its peak, the huge storm's sustained winds reached 180 miles per hour (290 kilometers per hour). It's the strongest Eastern Pacific storm since Hurricane Linda in 1997.
The massive hurricane lost some of its punch as it swirled over cooler waters near Mexico's Baja California Peninsula. It was downgraded to a tropical storm after its winds dropped below the hurricane minimum of 74 mph (118 km/h). Still, some resort beach towns along the coast were evacuated as the storm approached. Baja California was battered by Hurricane Jimena earlier this season.
Rick was the seventh hurricane of the season in the Eastern Pacific.
