Hurricane Jimena on September 2, 2009 crossing over Baja California Sur from the Pacific to the Sea of Cortez.
Hurricane Jimena was the strongest storm in the Eastern Pacific this season (so far). Jimena started out as an area of tropical disturbance on August 25th that first appeared on the North Atlantic satellite sector (East of Central America). The system moved West crossing the Central American landmass then into the Eastern Pacific waters where it was again investigated for cyclonic potential.
The system was just south of the gulf of Tehuantepec and moving North along the coast over very warm water when interests in Baja California started to take notice. Jimena stayed within 300 miles of the West coast of Mexico moving North Northwest at 10-13 mph while maintaining counter-clockwise rotation and increasing in symmetry and strength. This is always a pattern that concerns us here on the Peninsula due to the traditionally warm water of the Sea of Cortez (SOC) in late summer. From the standpoint of Loreto, we worry when a storm is attracted up into the SOC because we have no natural protective barriers to our East between Coronado and Carmen Islands.
As the storm moved North of Acapulco it intensified and graduated from Tropical Depression (13E) to Category 4 Hurricane Jimena within 36 hours. When the storm was a category four strength some of the computer models were beginning to show landfall on the Western coast of the southern peninsula between Punta San Lazaro (Magdelena Bay) and Punta Eugenio.
The National Hurricane Center's Three-day projected forcast for Hurricane Jimena as of September 1, 2009.
The forcast advisory above showed Jimena making landfall on the peninsula's Pacific coast at Magdelena Bay as a major hurricane (major = category 3 or above). The center of Jimena then would decrease in strength after interaction with land then continue North as a Tropical Storm or lesser system. Well, hurricanes have a "mind" of their own pretty often. Its the rare forcast that turns out to be "on the money". The strength and symmetry of the storm, prevailing atmospheric conditions, air temperatures over land and water, type of land interaction, upper, lower and midlevel winds, lunar phase, etc. all play a role in exactly what path a storm will take. The best advice is to prepare as best you can expect anything and hope for the best. The following advisorys from the National Hurricane Center were novel. Their advisories have become more to the point and without leaving out important facts such as these:
A HURRICANE WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE
CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN 24
HOURS. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE RUSHED
TO COMPLETION....
....REMEMBER NOT TO FOCUS
ON THE EXACT FORECAST TRACK SINCE DANGEROUS IMPACTS EXTEND SOME
DISTANCE FROM THE CENTER. THE FORECAST TRACK OF JIMENA IS ALMOST
PARALLEL TO THE COAST OF BAJA CALIFORNIA...AND SMALL DEVIATIONS
LEFT OR RIGHT OF THE TRACK COULD RESULT IN LARGE ERRORS IN BOTH THE
LOCATION AND TIMING OF LANDFALL.....
....JIMENA IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE TOTAL RAIN ACCUMULATIONS OF 5 TO
10 INCHES OVER THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE BAJA CALIFORNIA PENINSULA
AND PORTIONS OF WESTERN MEXICO DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS...
WITH POSSIBLE ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF 15 INCHES. THESE RAINS
COULD CAUSE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AND MUDSLIDES.
...A DANGEROUS STORM SURGE ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING
WAVES WILL PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT COASTAL FLOODING ALONG THE BAJA
CALIFORNIA PENINSULA.....
...INTERESTS IN THE HURRICANE WARNING AREA ARE ADVISED THAT STRONG
WINDS WILL PRECEDE THE ARRIVAL OF THE CENTER BY SEVERAL HOURS...
The images that follow, detail the actual path and destruction of Hurricane Jimena:
Positions of Hurricane Jimena from 29 August to 4 September, 2009.
The path of Hurricane Jimena showing where the Hurricane and Tropical Storm force winds extended.
Jimena on September 2, 2009 at 18:46 UTC or 11:46 local (Loreto) time.
In these satellite images, Loreto can be visualized by locating Isla Carmen as its across the channel and West of this island. Above Loreto's location (at about 10:00) there is the Bay of Concepcion and its peninsula. Mulege is North of the opening of that bay. All of this area is in or on the edge of the red (center) portion of the storm. In the second image the storm's center appears to be right over Mulege.
Jimena on September 2, 2009 at 22:46 UTC or 15:46 local (Loreto) time.
As you can imagine Mulege got hammered. The floodwaters were two meters higher than during Tropical Storm John in 2006. Last year Tropical Storm Julio flooded Mulege. Jimena is the third Tropical Cyclone to affect Mulege in four years. Jimena traveled through Mulege after crossing from the Pacific side of the peninsula and was still a category one Hurricane. Flood waters and wind damage were significant in Mulege. The Mulege bridge was two meters underwater during the high water stage. Currently emergency and relief efforts are ongoing.
Mulege September 4, 2009: Damage caused by hurricane Jimena along the river with the famous Mulege bridge in background. Photo by Carlos Milton, Copyright 2009 LasEcomujeres.com
I have no specatular photos of significant hurricane damage from Loreto, fortunately we were spared. The worst Loreto suffered was power outages that lasted three days and interruptions of telephone and cell communications. Other communities around us didn't fare the storm well at all. Below is a listing of some of the dameges to our surrounding communities:
Hurricane Jimena made the first landfall as a category 2 hurricane when it hit Cabo San Lazaro then it made landfall again between San Juanico and San Andresito before heading inland over the mountains. Jimena was still a category 1 hurricane when she emerged over the the waters of Sea of Cortez.
Hurricane force winds extended 50 miles from the storm's center causing extensive damage to interests along its path overland.
