News

  • Nation
  • World Updates
  • Courts
  • Parliament
  • Columnists
  • Opinion
  • Honours List

Monday October 19, 2009

Hurricane Rick weakens to category four

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Hurricane Rick's 175 mph (281 kmh) winds weakened on Sunday and the storm was reclassified as a category four hurricane but weather officials said it still posed a danger to Mexico's southern Baja peninsula.

At 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT) Rick was about 410 miles (660 km) south of the resort of Cabo San Lucas, moving toward the northwest at 13 mph (20 kmh). Its maximum sustained winds had slipped to 145 mph (230 kmh) by the time it was downgraded from category five -- the most powerful on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale -- to category four.

Hurricane Rick is seen about 290 mi (467 km) south of Acapulco, Mexico in this National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite image taken at 1500 GMT on October 16. (REUTERS/NOAA)

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said additional weakening is forecast during the next two days but Rick still is expected to be a dangerous hurricane as it approaches Baja California.

The center said a hurricane watch may be required for parts of the peninsula early on Monday and it was expected to hit Baja California resorts by mid-week.

Rick is the seventh hurricane of the eastern north Pacific season. Pacific storms pose no threat to Mexico's large oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico but the Baja California peninsula is popular with U.S. tourists for its resorts in the Los Cabos area.

(Reporting by Robin Emmott, Editing by Sandra Maler and Bill Trott)

Copyright © 2008 Reuters

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story

News Poll