Aug 07, 2014
Two storms were spawned in the Cradle of Storms -- which lies due south of Southern Mexico in the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The first named Iselle, and a few days later another named Julio. As always they started as a gathering of clouds, the question then became would they develop into a tropical storm, or maybe even coalesce into a hurricane?
Both not only became hurricanes but tracked not on the usual path to the north or northwest, but virtually straight west. The chances a storm develops into a hurricane and goes that way? Put it this way, Hawaii hasn't had a hurricane in 22 years. The changes TWO consecutive storms not only develop into hurricanes, but track exactly that direction? OK, now we're talking lottery odds.
Mexico dodged a real bullet, as the terrible twins headed away toward Hawaii. Iselle could be making landfall anytime, and while being at one time a Category 4 fortunately it got wrapped by dry air which takes away the fuel (moist hot air and water). With a little luck it could be downgraded into a tropical storm before hitting land.
The other twin Julio isn't running into as much dry air, but thank God it never got above a Category I level in the first place. Even a little weakening would drop it to tropical storm level too. However we're still talking about a lot of wind and a ton of rainfall over a short time. Then Iselle will weaken everything, so Julio could be the nail in the coffin for structures that have been partially damaged.
Like Hawaii, Mazatlan is a very rare destination track for hurricanes. This as opposed to Cabo which gets hit quite often on the typical Northwest track. Visiting Mexico in the summer is unique experience for a variety of reasons, and I recommend everyone try it at least once. When you're there you'll learn to keep one eye on Cradle of Storms.
If you ever wondered what a pair of twin storms looks like -- here are some links that will make you glad you aren't in Hawaii right now. You'll clearly see the twin swirls, then look all the way to the right and you'll notice our latest candidate forming more or less straight offshore from Acapulco. However it's very weak and may not even reach tropical storm level to get a name:
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