As of this morning, hurricane Jimena remains a powerful category 4 hurricane just south of the Baja Peninsula with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph and a minimum central pressure of 940 mb. As is typically the case, the convection around the center exploded overnight, but the cloud tops have warmed a little this morning, and the eye has become a little less organized as well. This is likely due to diurnal cycling of the convection, as well as an eyewall replacement cycle, and thus Jimena will likely continue these slight intensity fluctuations over the next 24-48 hours. The NHC mentions that water temperatures will cool slightly (but still should be plenty warm for intensification), and the storm will encounter some southwesterly shear after 24 hours, which could cause the hurricane to weaken a little prior to landfall - but still should be a major hurricane (official forecast has 115 knots at landfall up the west coast a ways from Cabo San Lucas). The Baja is a very difficult location to intercept hurricanes because of its extremely small width, so if a hurricane wobbles slightly it could miss land alltogether. We had first-hand experience with that frusration when trying to intercept Hurricane John in the southern Baja during 2006, when the powerful hurricane was heading straight for us up until a few hours before landfall, and then wobbled east causing the eye to make landfall well up the coast from our location. We tried to scramble at the last second to make it to the eye, but treacherous cliff-side roads and mudslides impeded our path. Check out the video of Hurricane John by clicking "read more."
-1#1CaStormChaser2009-08-31 18:31Looks like a nice hurricane!! Still can't decide whether or not to drive down to Baja to catch Jimena…The earliest I could leave would be Thursday, maybe Wednesday. It'd be worth the drive though, I think! -Sean-
+1#2KG4LEO2009-08-31 18:49Could this turn into some welcome rain for the California wildfires?
0#3CaStormChaser2009-08-31 20:34Wow! Did I say John!?!? Sorry, I've been pulling all-nighters on and off for the last 5 days or so helping friends evactuate the fires, so I'm out of it! I meant to say Jimena, NOT John.
Hey KG! Hope you've been doing great lately. I'm hoping for some relief with Jimena! That would definitely help out the firefighters, and help me get some sleep too! -Sean-
-1#4fwb19752009-09-07 22:19hey guys!!! Was that a dead body I saw in the water? It was when you were following the bulldozer through the high water. It sure did look like it. It was between 4:05 and 4:07 on the video.
Comments
-Sean-
Hey KG! Hope you've been doing great lately. I'm hoping for some relief with Jimena! That would definitely help out the firefighters, and help me get some sleep too!
-Sean-
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