Tropical Storm Trudy hits southern Mexico

Mexico has been battered this hurricane season by a procession of storms bringing damaging winds and flooding rains across many parts of the country. This weekend saw the arrival of another such weather system.

Tropical Storm Trudy formed around 140km to the southwest of Mexico on Friday. The storm made landfall on the Pacific coast on Saturday morning about 125km to the east of Acapulco.

At the point of impact it had sustained winds of around 100kph. Since then the storm has weakened quickly and been downgraded to a tropical depression.

In fact on Sunday morning, within just two days of development, a final warning was issued for the system. Nevertheless, it will continue to bring torrential rain to parts of southern Mexico.

This brings with it the threat of life-threatening flash floods and mudslides over the next few days, especially across the hilly and mountainous areas.

The remnants of the storm are expected to produce as much as 150 to 300mm of rain. It is possible that some isolated spots along the Pacific coast, including the Acapulco area as well as the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca in southern Mexico, might see as much as 500mm of rainfall.

This year’s Pacific hurricane season has been the most active since 1992 with 21 named storms, 15 hurricanes and 9 of which became major hurricanes (Category 3 or above on the Saffir-Simpson scale).

In an average season there will be around 16 named storms, 9 hurricanes and 4 major hurricanes. With six weeks left to run, there is still a chance of even more storms before the season ends on the 30 November.