Hurricane Jimena

Landfall | Summary
Posting Date: September 2, 2009, 10:00:00 AM

On Wednesday, September 2, the once-powerful Hurricane Jimena made landfall as a Category 2 storm—with winds of 85 mph (140 km/hr)—on the west coast of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, near Cabo San Lazaro. The same day, Jimena reentered the colder waters of the Pacific and weakened to a Category 1 hurricane before making a second landfall, near southern Baja, southeast of the sparsely-populated San Buenaventura, Mexico. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), after crossing Baja California Wednesday, Jimena quickly succumbed to wind shear and was downgraded to a tropical storm. The storm continued weakening and degenerated to a tropical depression on Thursday, September 3, while moving over the Gulf of California. Jimena developed in the Pacific Ocean south of Mexico on August 29, starting as a tropical storm. It strengthened rapidly, doubling in intensity in just six hours. At its height on August 31, Jimena produced sustained winds up to 155 mph (250 km/hr), putting it on the threshold of Category 5 status. Jimena is the most powerful hurricane to have developed this year and it is the second strongest hurricane to hit Baja's west coast since record-keeping began in 1949. Hurricane Jimena dropped five to 10 inches of rain over the southern half of the Baja Peninsula and parts of western Mexico. Local officials in the small towns of Ciudad Constitución, Comondu and San Carlos along the western coast of Baja reported demolished citrus fields, damaged buildings, blocked roads, and toppled trees. One person died as a result of flooding in Ciudad Constitución. More than 50,000 people lost electricity, but it has since been restored. Aside from flooded roads and downed signs, the resort areas of Los Cabos were mostly spared. Although Jimena’s heavy precipitation wreaked havoc on parts of Baja, it unfortunately failed to provide any assistance to the firefighters battling a large wildfire burning in Southern California. Using the latest information on Jimena’s meteorological parameters, the AIR tropical cyclone team has run the AIR Mexico Tropical Cyclone Model. Because of the affected area's sparse population and low insurance take-up rates, AIR estimates that insured losses from this storm will be minimal.

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Posting Date: September 2, 2009, 10:00:00 AM