Mexico.- Storm Beatriz, which evolved this Friday into a category 1 hurricane in the Mexican Pacific, was located 100 kilometers (km) west-southwest of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán state, and 185 km southeast of Manzanillo, Colima state, west of the country, detailed the National Meteorological Service (SMN).
This morning, when it intensified, the phenomenon was 80 kilometers south of Lázaro Cárdenas, a port in the state of Michoacán, and 90 kilometers west-southwest of Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, according to the agency of the National Water Commission (Conagua).
“The tropical cyclone slightly increased the intensity of its maximum sustained winds and gusts,” the advisory stated.
The cyclone, the second of this Pacific hurricane season, is moving northwest at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour, with maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 165 kilometers per hour, according to the forecast. .
Its cloud bands are expected to cause “torrential occasional” rains, of 150 to 250 millimeters, in the states of Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, and Guerrero, as well as “intense” rains, of 75 to 150 millimeters, in Oaxaca and Chiapas.
Likewise, winds with gusts of 100 to 120 kilometers per hour and waves of 4 to 6 meters high are expected on the coasts of Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán and Guerrero.
For this reason, the SMN requested “extreme precautions to the general population in the areas of the mentioned states due to rain, wind and waves, including maritime navigation, and to comply with the recommendations issued by the authorities.”
Beatriz comes after Adrian, which this Friday intensified to a category 2 hurricane, but it is more than 700 kilometers south-southwest of Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, so it does not affect the national territory.
The Government of Mexico forecast in May the formation of up to 38 named cyclones in the 2023 season, of which 5 would impact the country.
Of that number, between 16 and 22 systems could occur in the Pacific Ocean and between 10 and 16 in the Atlantic.
The SMN pointed out that in the case of the Pacific “16 to 22 tropical cyclones are expected, including 9 to 11 tropical storms, 4 to 6 category 1 and 2 hurricanes, and 3 to 5 category 3, 4 and 5”.
