Hurricane Willa Makes Landfall in Mexico’s Pacific Coast

Category 3 Hurricane Willa made landfall on Mexico’s west coast Tuesday evening with “life-threatening storm surge, wind, and rainfall,” according to the National Hurricane Center.

Although Willa’s intensity has been on a downward trend since it peaked as a Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds on Monday, it continues to be quite dangerous, packing sustained winds of 125 mph.

As of Tuesday morning, the violent core of Willa was passing through Las Islas Marias on its way toward the coast. Las Islas Marias is a small group of islands a little more than 60 miles offshore. It is minimally inhabited by a federal prison.

From the islands, Willa’s slow forward pace of 6 mph is predicted to accelerate, bringing the storm ashore somewhere near Isla del Bosque around or after 6 this evening, local time.

“An extremely dangerous storm surge is likely along portions of the coast of southwestern Mexico in southern Sinaloa and Nayarit, especially near and to the south of where the center of Willa makes landfall,” the Hurricane Center wrote in its morning update.

Source: The Washington Post