WeatherFanatics: Tropical Storm Odile Threatens More Mexico, Southwest US Flooding

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Tropical Storm Odile Threatens More Mexico, Southwest US Flooding

By Courtney Spamer, Meteorologist

September 10,2014; 9:01PM,EDT

Another tropical storm spinning in the Eastern Pacific will threaten catastrophic flooding in areas recently affected by Hurricane Norbert.
Wednesday morning, an area of disturbed weather southwest of Mexico strengthened into a depression then into Tropical Storm Odile.
This system is expected to continue slowly shifting northward through the end of the week, then pick up more speed during the weekend as it strengthens.
Odile will likely become a hurricane by the start of the weekend.

Unlike the recent path of Hurricane Norbert, Odile is more likely to hug the Mexican coastline. AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Adam Douty explained that "Odile will brush the coast of southwestern Mexico, bringing very heavy rainfall. The city of Manzanillo could be at the greatest risk of flooding rainfall."
From Manzanillo to Puerto Vallarta, coastal cities and the mountains just inland should expect the greatest impact. While the heavy rain threatens mudslides, flooding rains will be possible closer to the coast.
With the increased strength of the storm, wind speeds will also increase, threatening widespread power outages along the coastlines.
Douty also added that "the worst conditions will remain to the north of Acapulco. However, some locally heavy showers and storms could still move over the city through Saturday as tropical moisture gets pulled into the area."

This animated loop shows a satellite image of Odile spinning off the coast of Mexico. (Provided by NOAA)
RELATED:
AccuWeather.com Mexico Weather Homepage
Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center at AccuWeather.com
Current Stat's for Odile
Into the weekend, the storm will race to the northwest, heading for the southern tip of Baja California. Odile will be zoning in on areas that endured flooding rainfall from Hurricane Norbert just a week earlier.
As much as 2-3 inches (50-75 millimeters) of rain could to these areas in only a few hours. After the extensive flooding across the Baja earlier in September, it will not take much more to cause additional flooding issues.

Some of the moisture from this system will likely be swept up into northern Mexico, including the cities of Hermosillo and Chihuahua into the new week.
Furthermore, this moisture will likely continue into the Southwestern United States. Parts of Arizona had catastrophic flooding from the moisture supplied by Norbert. The city of Phoenix broke their all-time record for daily rainfall, reaching a total 3.29 inches in one day. Much of this rain fell in only three hours.

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