Rick Strengthens to Cat 5 Hurricane

For UPDATES see comments section below

Rick Intensifies to a Ferocious Category 5 Hurricane Near Mexico’s Pacific Coast

Rick is now an extremely dangerous category 5 hurricane headed toward Baja California peninsula.

Satellite imagery indicates that Rick has maximum sustained winds of 260 km/h (160 mph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

A Category 5 hurricane, the highest on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, Rick could cause catastrophic damage in its path and beyond.

As of posting, Rick is about 370km (230 miles) south of Manzanillo, Mexico, and threatens to turn toward the Mexican coast on Tuesday, pummeling Baja California by early Thursday, on to mainland Mexico to dump an unprecedented amount of rain.

Rick is the  seventh hurricane of the season in eastern north Pacific.

GOES Northern Hemisphere Composite SECTOR IR Image

Hurricane Rick  at Cat 5  Strength – Northern Hemisphere Composite Sector (IR Ch 4) – still image dated as inset. Click image to enlarge and update.

Unenhanced satellite image of Rick at Cat 5 strength showing textbook eye and near-perfect symmetry

Hurricane Rick – Cat 5 – Still image – Dated as inset. Click image to enlarge and update.

Coastal Watches/Warnings and 5-Day Track Forecast Cone

Still image – Dated as inset. Click image to enlarge and update.

Tropical Storm Force Wind Speed Probabilities – 120 Hours

Still image – Dated as inset. Click image to enlarge and update.

GOES Full Disk East IR- Still image. Click image to enlarge and update. [Images are updated every three (3) hours.]

Other Images of Rick

Hurricane Rick – Cat 5 – AVNColor enhancement-  Still image – Dated as inset. Click image to enlarge and update.

NOAA Polar Mapped Mosaic Composites Showing Typhoon Lupit and Hurricane Rick

Still image – Dated as inset. Click image to enlarge and update.

Other Satellite Images

GOES Satellite: East Pacific :  Hurricane Rick(EP20)

• Visible  Image – Java – Flash
• IR AVN  Image – Java – Flash
• IR Shortwave  Image – Java – Flash
• IR Dvorak*  Image – Java – Flash
• IR Unenhanced  Image – Java – Flash
• IR JSL  Image – Java – Flash
• IR RGB  Image – Java – Flash
• IR Funktop  Image – Java – Flash
• IR Rainbow  Image – Java – Flash
• Water Vapor  Image – Java – Flash

Additional Images:

• FEWW Satellite Imagery List

Related Links:

• Rick Strengthens to a Major Hurricane

Rick Strengthens to a Major Hurricane

For UPDATES see links in comments section

Rick Strengthened to an Extremely Dangerous Category 4 Hurricane

At 10:15 UTC the center of hurricane Rick was near latitude 14.0°N, longitude 102.3°W,  or about

• 40 km southwest of Acapulco, Mexico
• 595 km south-southeast of Manzanillo, Mexico

Rick is Now a Cat 4A Hurricane on FEWW New Hurricane Scale ( Cat. four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale). GOES Satellite Image. Rainbow Enhancement – Still Frame. Date and time as inset. Click image to enlarge and update.

Coastal Watches/Warnings and 5-Day Track Forecast Cone

Rick’s 5-day Track Forecast. Click Image to enlarge and update.

Tropical Storm Force Wind Speed Probabilities – 120 Hours

Hurricane Rick Wind Speed Probabilities – 120 Hours

Direction and Speed

• Rick is moving in a west-northwesterly direction at 19 km/hr
• Expected to stay on its forecast track for the next 48 hours
• Will remain off-shore, moving parallel to the southern coast of Mexico

Wind Speed

• Maximum sustained winds: 215

Category

Rick is now an extremely dangerous category 4A on FEWW New Hurricane Scale ( Cat. four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale).

Further Strengthening Forecast:

• Rick will Most probably strengthen to a category five hurricane in the next 12 – 36 hours.

Wind Forces and Pressure

• Hurricane force winds: Extend 55 km
• Tropical storm force winds: Extend 165 km from the center
• Minimum central pressure: 71.09mm Hg (948 mb).

Rain Potential

• Rick’s outer rainbands will continue to affect the Southern coast of Mexico, NHC said.

FEWW Comment:

Hurricane Rick looks organized, symmetrical and extremely dangerous. Warm coastal waters off the Mexican coast will most likely help Rick to become a Category 5 hurricane. Rick could devastate Baja and coastal areas of western Mexico.

As Typhoon LUPIT (currently located near Philippines) and Hurricane Rick grow stronger,  the question on many people’s mind must now be whether the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season will end with  a whimper, or the “mother of all hurricanes” could still form there …

Other Satellite Images

GOES Satellite: East Pacific :  Hurricane Rick(EP20)

• Visible  Image – Java – Flash
• IR AVN  Image – Java – Flash
• IR Shortwave  Image – Java – Flash
• IR Dvorak*  Image – Java – Flash
• IR Unenhanced  Image – Java – Flash
• IR JSL  Image – Java – Flash
• IR RGB  Image – Java – Flash
• IR Funktop  Image – Java – Flash
• IR Rainbow  Image – Java – Flash
• Water Vapor  Image – Java – Flash

Additional Images:

• FEWW Satellite Imagery List