He is rapidly becoming a weaker hurricane now down to Category 2. Here are some of the basic facts based on the latest Hurricane Advisory at 1:00 p.m. CDT.
LOCATION/MOVEMENT
At 1:00 p.m. he was located inland near latitude 14.2N, longitude 84.5W or about 75 miles west of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua. He was moving west at 14. This direction of movement will continue, but he may slow down some during the next 24 hours. On this track, his center will move over NE Nicaragua for a few hours and then across Honduras later today and tonight.
WINDS/PRESSURE
Estimated minimum pressure is 962mb or 28.41 inches. Highest sustained winds are down to 100 mph. He should continue to weaken rapidly as he tangles with the mountains of Central America later today and tonight.
RAIN/FLASH FLOODING
He may dump 8 to 12 inches of rain over Northern Nicaragua and El Salvador with 10 to 15 inches over much of Honduras. Some amounts up to 25 inches are possible in mountainous areas. No doubt these rains will produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.
LET’S LOOK AT THE TERRAIN ISSUE
The big problem in Nicaragua and Honduras is the narrow deep valleys. When Hurricane Mitch moved into Honduras, he was a Category 5, but much larger. He dumped so much rain in the interior that thousands were drowned. Felix is not as big a storm, but still loaded wth moisture. In Honduras, there are some 8,000-foot mountain elevations only about 40 miles or so south of the northern coast. Even in NE Honduras, there are 3,500-foot elevations in the extreme NE part. Same story in Guatemala. Quite a few mountains in the central part of that country exceed 6,000 feet and some, over the eastern part in the Sierra de las Minas range, go to nearly 10,000 feet. The remnants of Felix will eventually get into extreme SE Mexico in the state of Chiapas and there are elevations there as high as 9,000 feet.
All of this means that the elevations will milk out tremendous rains from this moisture-laden system.
MEXICO’S DOUBLE WHAMMY
Over on the other side of Mexico, Hurricane Henriette, out of the Pacific landfalling on the lower tip of Baja, California will move across the Gulf of California into the NW part of the main part of Mexico. This could bring tremendous rains to that area and later bring some abundant moisture to the southern parts of Arizona and New Mexico.
