October 26, 2002

Special Report:
Hurricane Kenna Hits Land at Puerto Vallarta

October 26 – Puerto Vallarta

Dick Markie, harbormaster at Paradise Village
Marina in Nuevo Vallarta phoned this afternoon (Saturday) at
1:00 to report that Paradise Village suffered no damage to the
marina or hotel. Markie saw winds of 55 knots for two hours,
and remarkably little rain – one inch instead of the 12 inches
predicted. The harbormaster had helped his tenants move to the
safest spots, and some even moved into the hotel, but he said
that “people who stayed on their boats could have had wine
on their salon table and it wouldn’t have spilled.”

Marina Vallarta in Puerto Vallarta suffered
only minor damage. Apparently the power is on there and everything
is operational. Downtown PV sustained heavy damage. Most of the
city lost power. The Sheraton hotel reportedly suffered the destruction
of their first three floors from storm surge. The malacon
likewise was pounded by the tide. One cruiser who called
us reported that boulders are falling down hills and wiping out
buildings in their path.

San Blas was apparently hit the hardest
– it is unclear how complete the devastation is at this time.
Marina El Cid in Mazatlan reports no effects whatsoever. Zihuatanejo,
past which Kenna blew a few days ago, likewise suffered no damage.

For more, see www.cnn.com/2002/WEATHER/10/25/hurricane.kenna.ap/index.html.

YOTREPS

October 26 – The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace

Who is out making passages in the Pacific
and what kind of weather are they having? Check out YOTREPS –
‘yacht reports’ – at http://www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/

Weather Updates

October 26 – Pacific
Ocean

San Francisco Bay Weather

To see what the winds are like on the Bay
and just outside the Gate right now, check out http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/wind/.
The National Weather Service site for San Francisco Bay is at
www.wrh.noaa.gov/Monterey/.

California Coast Weather

Looking for current as well as recent wind
and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena
and the Mexican border? Here’s the place – which has further
links to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/Southwest.shtml.

Pacific Winds and Pressure

The University of Hawaii Dept. of Meteorology
page posts a daily
map of the NE Pacific Ocean barometric pressure and winds.

Pacific Sea State

Check out the Pacific Ocean sea states
at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.

For views of sea states anywhere in the world,
see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/.