Early Friday, monstrous Hurricane Patricia became the strongest hurricane ever measured by the National Hurricane Center. Patricia is forecast to make landfall on Mexico’s west central coast Friday night with destructive winds, torrents of rain, and a devastating storm surge.
The Category 5 storm’s maximum sustained winds have strengthened to an astonishing 200 mph. “This makes Patricia the strongest hurricane on record in the National Hurricane Center’s area of responsibility (AOR) which includes the Atlantic and the eastern North Pacific basins,” NHC said. “The minimum central pressure estimated from the aircraft data, 880 mb, is the lowest ever for our AOR.”