Mexico Dodges Bullet In Hurricane Raymond

Hurricane Raymond had been in the cross-hairs of the Mexican government for some time as the storm gained strength in the Pacific. At one point, Raymond became the first major hurricane of the year (in a relatively quiet hurricane season) when it  reached the status of a category 3 storm three days ago. The storms winds reached 120 miles per hour at that point and the western coast of Mexico was bracing as it appeared the storm was headed their way.



Thankfully the storm never came ashore and it lost some of its strength on its way. That is important because Mexicans have been hit hard by tropical storms this year and the heavy rainfall that would have resulted from a major hurricane could have been a serious issue. Water has been dumped on many areas of the country recently and anything added to that could have been problematic for the citizens along the coast (especially in the vicinity of Acapulco where the storm's center was hit).



This was the 17th large storm in the eastern Pacific Ocean this year. This is above the average but the storms have largely been limited in strength with the worst part being heavy rainfall. The frequency of these storms has to have these communities prepared for flood issues and it looks like they got very lucky with Raymond.

Sources:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=82224&src=ve
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2013/ep17/ep172013.public.007.shtml