Thursday, March 28, 2024

As many as 38 storms forecast this hurricane season

The National Meteorological Service (SMN) predicts that between 26 and 38 storms will form in the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic oceans during the 2023 hurricane season.

As many as nine of those storms could be Category 3, 4 or 5 hurricanes, according to SMN forecasts.

Highway damage at the Juluchuca bridge in Petatlán, Guerrero.
Highway damage at the Juluchuca bridge in Petatlán, Guerrero after Hurricane Rick in 2021. (Protección Civil Guerrero)

The Eastern Pacific hurricane season begins Monday, May 15, while the Atlantic season starts June 1. Both seasons run through Nov. 30.

The forecast for the Pacific is 16–22 storms, including three to five Category 3, 4 or 5 hurricanes. The SMN anticipates four to six Category 1 or 2 hurricanes and nine to 11 tropical storms.

SMN chief Alejandra Margarita Méndez Girón told a virtual press conference that the El Niño climate pattern was a factor in the greater-than-usual hurricane activity predicted for the Pacific this year.

The forecast for the Atlantic is 10–16 storms, including two to four Category 3, 4 or 5 hurricanes, one to three Category 1 or 2 hurricanes and seven to nine tropical storms.

There were 19 named storms in the Eastern Pacific last year, including 11 hurricanes. The Atlantic saw 15 named storms, including nine hurricanes.

Among the hurricanes that made landfall in Mexico last year was Agatha, which reached the coast of Oaxaca on May 30, 2022.

The category 2 hurricane (maximum sustained winds between 154 and 177 kilometers per hour) was the strongest Pacific storm to make landfall in Mexico in the month of May since records began over 70 years ago. Agatha caused extensive damage in Oaxaca and claimed at least nine lives.

With reports from El Financiero and Informador 

The container ship the Dali crashing into the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore

AMLO confirms 1 Mexican rescued, 2 missing after Baltimore bridge collapse

0
Mexico's President López Obrador confirmed Wednesday morning that the Mexican nationals were working on the bridge when it collapsed Tuesday.
Firefighters in Veracruz

1,000 firefighters combat blazes in Veracruz as wildfires spike nationwide

0
The wildfires in the mountainous central region of the state started on Saturday and have yet to be fully controlled.
A worker sprays a field with a chemical

Mexico postpones glyphosate ban citing lack of available alternatives

1
The World Health Organization classifies the controversial herbicide as a “probable carcinogen.”