From 3 to 4. Hurricane Roslyn crossed a new course as it passed off the Pacific coast of Mexico on Saturday, the US weather services announced. It strengthened to move into category 4. At 10 a.m. local time in Mexico, the meteorological phenomenon was accompanied by sustained winds of 215 km/h and although it could lose strength as it approached the coast, “we expect it to be close to or continue to be a major hurricane when it makes landfall on Sunday,” reads a bulletin from the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
According to the NHC forecast, Roslyn could make landfall on Sunday morning on the coast of Nayarit state in an area of fishing communities. A hurricane is considered major when it exceeds category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which has 5, and is synonymous with possible catastrophe.
Tropical cyclones, frequent on the Mexican coasts
The passage of the hurricane will affect other states on the Pacific coast, mainly Jalisco, Colima (west) and Sinaloa (northwest) where a pre-hurricane alert has been issued. On Saturday morning, Roslyn, which was 240 km from the port of Manzanillo (west), strengthened rapidly while moving in a north/northwest direction at a speed of 13 km/h.
Tropical cyclones hit Mexico every year, usually from May to November, on its Pacific and Atlantic coasts. In October 1997, over 200 people were killed when Category 4 Hurricane Paulina hit the Pacific coast of Mexico. At the end of May, Agatha, the first cyclone of the season in the Pacific caused the death of 11 people in the state of Oaxaca in mountain localities hit by rains.