Mexico City, Aug 1 (EFE).- Tropical storm Carlotta, the third cyclone of the Pacific season, could bring rain and “strong” winds to states in western Mexico on Thursday, although it is not expected to make landfall, the National Meteorological Service (SMN) said.
“Carlotta is gradually intensifying. Its wide circulation increases the probability of heavy to very heavy rains in the west of the country, as well as strong winds and high waves in Baja California Sur,” warned the SMN in a notice.
The cyclone, which emerged on Wednesday, was last reported 635 kilometers (390 miles) south of Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, one of Mexico’s top tourist destinations, and 735 kilometers (450 miles) west-southeast of the port of Manzanillo, Colima.
The phenomenon is expected to intensify on Thursday afternoon to become a Category 1 hurricane, but the forecast trajectory indicates that it will gradually move away from Mexican territory.
However, the SMN predicts that the “wide circulation of Carlotta will increase the probability of very heavy rainfall,” of 50 to 75 millimeters, in Jalisco, as well as “heavy rainfall,” of 25 to 50 millimeters, in Baja California Sur, Nayarit, Colima and Michoacán.
“The rains could be accompanied by electrical discharges and hail, in addition to causing an increase in the levels of rivers and streams, landslides, puddles and flooding in areas of the indicated states,” the forecast said.
Wind gusts of 40 to 60 kilometers per hour and waves of 1 to 2 meters high are also forecast for the coasts of Baja California Sur.
Mexican authorities in May forecast up to 41 named cyclones in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, of which at least five would hit the country, a figure above average in both cases.
So far, three cyclones have hit Mexico, all in the Atlantic: Hurricane Beryl and Storm Chris, which left no deaths in July, and Storm Alberto in June, when it left six dead in Nuevo León, a state on Mexico’s northern border.
