Some positive news. Patricia rapidly crumbled from a category 5 to a tropical storm.

[still_one]

Patricia roared into southwestern Mexico then rapidly crumbled Saturday, hours after it hit luxury resorts and impoverished villages with equal ferocity.

The strongest hurricane ever recorded at sea struck land Friday evening as a Category 5 storm, the fiercest level, with sustained winds of 165 mph.

But by 7 a.m. CT (8 a.m. ET), it was no longer even a hurricane, broken up by mountainous terrain. All coastal warnings and watches had been called off at that point because now-Tropical Storm Patricia, which had 50-mph sustained winds as it moved north-northeast at 21 mph.

"Rapid weakening is expected to continue, and Patricia is forecast to become a tropical depression later today and dissipate tonight," the National Weather Service said in in its latest advisory.

Mexican officials had expressed cautious optimism overnight, with President Enrique Peña Nieto saying "damages have been minor to those corresponding to a hurricane of this magnitude."

But the full scale of the destruction won't be known until daylight, and serious flooding and mudslide threats remain.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/24/americas/hurricane-patricia/index.html

I hope no one was badly injured, and that very little damage was done



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hurricane-patricia-weakens-landfall_562b7094e4b0aac0b8fd1797

[trumad]

1. Thank God.

[still_one]

2. I hope so. When it was in the Ocean, it was rated stronger than Katrina

[DocPain]

3. Scary

That it was able to reach that peak, and go back down so fast. If people do not see changes in overall seasonal weather by now, they never will. If they do not truly accept the root cause for those changes, our kids are doomed.

[still_one]

4. I agree, and that is why we really need leadership that will do something about climate change

[Marty McGraw]

21. and unwound it's bands

Really far out. Looks like a good chunk of it is already up in Maryland now.

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. Thank goodness for all the people in her path. n/t

[DocPain]

7. Yes, too much suffering as it is.

I was stationed in the Philippines in the late 1980's, and we got hit by a monsoon for three days, it went out to sea, then decided to hit us for an additional two. We were fine on base, but the surrounding areas were devastated.

[Tarheel_Dem]

8. Glad you came out of it unscathed. Welcome to DU.

[still_one]

9. That is pretty harrowing. Wow

[iandhr]

6. Seems like we need to reexamine our weather prediction model.

[restorefreedom]

10. they said it formed quickly

probably not enough time to solidify its strength, thankfully

[malaise]

11. Lots more rain to come

Now to watch for the mudslides and floods.
We won't know about the damage until they can access the worst hit areas.
Patricia was always going to weaken once she interfaced with the mountains.

[truebluegreen]

22. We were very fortunate:

Patricia when coming ashore shot a sparsely-populated gap between Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo and then blew across Mexico so fast she didn't drop a lot of rain in any one place. We got rain, but nothing like we feared. PV was untouched, Manzanillo almost entirely so, Guadalajara got rain but nothing they couldn't handle. It helps that the rainy season ended early (sorta) and the ground wasn't still saturated from that.

We've been checking in with friends on the coast (Melaque, La Manzanilla, PV) and from what we have heard they are surprised and relieved at the outcome.

[malaise]

24. That's the truth

The fact that she blew across quickly and missed major population and tourist centers is really good news.

[bluestateguy]

12. That does tend to happen

Hurricanes need water for fuel to thrive.

I've never seen a hurricane last inland, as a hurricane.

[treestar]

13. good

seems like it fell as quickly as it developed.

[jtuck004]

14. Like a congressperson on the Benghazi committee? n/t

[hobbit709]

15. some tropical storms have dumped so much water they caused more damage than a hurricane.

[truebluegreen]

23. The worst systems are the ones that "stall"

and just keep dumping more water in the same place. Fortunately, Patricia turned out to be the opposite of that...although what she may do in Texas is another matter.

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

16. We're expecting our second flood this year in Houston tomorrow.

[irisblue]

17. you yours are in a safe spot right?

and a backup generator?

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

19. High and dry. Thank you.

I live in a townhouse across the street from a major bayou, but don't go under water - a very rare situation. Our condo complex just happen to be up on enough fill. Everywhere around us floods. I don't like generators. The fall weather is cool enough to survive without AC. During Hurricane Ike, Houston went without power for two weeks. Solar lights. Battery operated fans. Solar chargers. Dinner parties every night to use up each neighbors' freezer contents. It wasn't bad. No traffic lights was the worst part.

[TexasProgresive]

18. This storm had the potential to be extremely dangerous and deadly

But it seems the weather people were constantly harping about this being the strongest storm to hit the N. American coast while it was still out at sea. A lot can happen to a hurricane as it approaches landfall. I did not experience Camille in 1969 but was stationed at Keesler AFB Biloxi in January of 1970. The devastation was horrible. My family had owned property in Pass Christian and Bay St. Louis, MS, so I was familiar with the area. Camille was one of the strongest storms to make landfall but it's highest recorded wind speed is about 175 MPH. It is estimated that sustained wind speeds of up to 200MPH but the anemometers were destroyed or blew away. At least 259 people died in 3 states and Cuba with the majority of the deaths being 153 in Virginian due to mud slides.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Camille
The wind speed of Camille can only be approximated, as no meteorological equipment survived the extreme conditions at landfall, but Camille is estimated to have had sustained winds of 190 miles per hour (310 km/h) at landfall, with gusts exceeding 230 miles per hour (370 km/h).[6][36] Before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Camille likely had the highest storm surge measured in the United States, at over 24 feet (7.3 m).

The media meteorologists seem to live for hype. I think there is a better way to get people to take these storms seriously then building them to catastrophic proportions and then smiling and shuffling off screen when it doesn't pan out. Perhaps showing death and injury figures, pictures and video of past horrific storms to educate viewers in what might happen. Having grown up on the coast with relatives in the Louisiana delta my family and I know what can happen and what to do- you grab what is important; family, pets and pictures and get the Hell out- North and West. If the storm is nice and polite you go home, if not you survived and you go home to pick up the pieces.

[Liberal_in_LA]

20. Good