Hurricane Norbert, Baja California-bound, gains strength

Hurricane Norbert is now only 200 miles west of Cabo San Lucas and still on a course to make landfall Saturday morning about 200 miles north of the resort city on the Baja California peninsula.

The National Hurricane Center has upgraded Norbert to a Category 2 hurricane with wind speeds of 105 mph, and it's expected to remain at that strength until coming ashore.

According to the hurricane center's 8 p.m. update, rainfall accumulations throughout Baja California Sur are expected to range from 4 to 6 inches.

Norbert’s center is expected to make landfall in the Magdalena Bay area and cross into the Sea of Cortez near Loreto.

This should spare the popular Cabo San Lucas and East Cape areas to the south from major impact. La Paz, on the Sea of Cortez, is closer to the storm path and many people were getting their boats onto land Friday.

The San Diego-based long-range sportfisher Intrepid was at the Alijos Rocks in the Pacific, 200 miles west of Magdalena Bay, on Friday afternoon. About 5 p.m., however, the seas grew heavy, the wind picked up and skipper Kevin Osbourne quickly headed north.

"It is time to get out of here," he said in a satellite phone interview with 976-TUNA, which reported the vessel is bound for the shelter of Guadalupe Island.

Meanwhile, the area from La Paz north to Loreto, on the east coast of Baja, remains under a hurricane warning. Norbert is expected to reach mainland Mexico south of Guaymas on Saturday night. That region also is under a hurricane warning.

—Pete Thomas

Caption: Cabo San Lucas as of 5 p.m. Friday had yet to experience any real effects of Hurricane Norbert, except for cloudiness.

Credit: Tracy Ehrenberg

Comments

[Josie Yemane]

Can any one tell me it the home in the Maravila development were affected?