Hurricane Patricia Case Study

Hurricane Patricia hit land on Oct. 23. It set records for being the strongest hurricane ever based on the barometric pressure (879 millibars), the speed it changed from a tropical storm to a category 5 hurricane (24 hours), and the faster sustainable winds (200 mph). Hurricane Patricia starting forming in the Pacific, but didn’t hit anybody’s radar until it started to form a tropical storm in the Gulf of Tehuantepec which is in the Pacific Ocean west of the Mexican state of Chiapas. The storm then quickly went from a tropical storm to a Category Five Hurricane. The increase in the temperature of the water due to the El Nino allowed for Hurricane Patricia to intensify this quickly. The storm then reached land at Cuixmala, Jalisco and then quickly began to degrade as traveled further in land. The storm then quickly losses momentum as it passed over the Sierra Madre de Sur mountain range. The storm didn’t do as much damage as …show more content…
From the study done by Clifton Dixxon on the effects of hurricane in the Yucatan Peninsula, we can see some of the affects that might occur in Southwestern Mexico. The damage from Hurricane Patricia destroyed several thousand acres of cropland, and this could lead to money and food problems in the future. It is already reported that fruit sales to the US are going to drop due to the hurricane. In the Yucatan many had to get labor jobs to rebuild the resorts, but there aren’t as many tourists in this part of Mexico. The damage to the land could have forced other animals to relocate upsetting and changing the ecosystem. The damage reports are not as bad as they could have been, but the affects of Hurricane Patricia might be felt for many years to come. Geography helps understand how the impact of a Hurricane or any natural disaster is felt a lot longer than most people