CNN –
Hurricane Norma is expected to hit Mexico’s popular resort area of Los Cabos from the Pacific Ocean on Saturday with damaging winds, flash floods and a dangerous storm surge, as another hurricane pummels island nations in the Atlantic.
Norma, a Category 2 storm as of 11 a.m. ET, is expected to move over or near parts of Mexico’s Baja California Sur — including Cabo San Lucas — late Saturday afternoon or early evening, the National Hurricane Center said.
Norma is expected to weaken slightly when it makes landfall in the afternoon, but it will still be a hurricane that could bring life-threatening conditions to a tourist-friendly region that is home to a few hundred thousand people, the hurricane center said.
Meanwhile, in the Atlantic Ocean, Hurricane Tammy – a Category 1 storm since Saturday morning – has triggered hurricane warnings for parts of the Leeward Islands, a chain of several island nations and territories between the Caribbean Sea and the open Atlantic. Tammy’s winds accelerated to 85 miles per hour.
Neither storm poses a threat to the United States.
As for Norma: With maximum sustained winds of up to 100 mph, the hurricane center was centered about 30 miles west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas late Saturday morning, and rain and tropical storm conditions were already making landfall, the hurricane center said.
The hurricane is expected to make landfall before crossing the southern part of Baja California Sur in the evening and emerging over the southern Gulf of California on Sunday.
A hurricane warning was in effect for southern parts of Baja California Sur, including Cabo San Lucas.
A dangerous storm surge “will likely result in coastal flooding in areas with onshore winds within the hurricane warning area,” the hurricane center said Saturday.
“Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves,” the hurricane center said.
Norma will bring heavy rainfall and flooding to the area. Rainfall totals of 6 to 12 inches, with some even up to 18 inches, are possible.
According to the hurricane center, the weakening cyclone was expected to turn northeast and east-northeast on Sunday night and slowly approach the coast of Sinaloa in western Mexico.
Norma is expected to move inland early Monday and dissipate across rugged terrain in western Mexico by Tuesday.
Hurricane Tammy is heading toward the Leeward Islands
In the Atlantic, Tammy strengthened slightly with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph and centered about 50 miles east-southeast of Guadeloupe, the National Hurricane Center said at 11 a.m. ET.
Tammy is expected to move near or over parts of the Leeward Islands – including Guadeloupe and Antigua and Barbuda – by Saturday night, then move north of the Leeward Islands on Sunday.
Hurricane-force winds extended up to 25 miles from the center of the storm, and tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 125 miles.
Hurricanes are rare in this part of the Atlantic in late October. According to hurricane expert Michael Lowry, Tammy is only the third hurricane to form this far southeast in the Atlantic since 1900.
It is also the youngest hurricane to hit this part of the Atlantic since 1966, according to Phil Klotzbach, a scientist at Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science.
Hurricane experts previously warned that hurricanes could form in unusual areas later this year due to the exceptionally warm Atlantic Ocean.
A storm surge of 1 to 3 feet is possible for portions of the Leeward Islands.
Heavy rainfall is one of the storm’s greatest threats and can lead to flash floods and mudslides. Total rainfall on the Leeward Islands is expected to be 10 to 20 centimeters, but could reach up to 30 centimeters in places where the heaviest rain occurs. Rainfall should be less in Puerto Rico and the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, where 1 to 2 inches of rain is most likely.
Conditions will improve from south to north along the island chain late Sunday as the storm moves north from the region.
With Tammy in the Atlantic, only two names – Vince and Whitney – remain on the standard Atlantic storm name list before the hurricane center resorts to an alternative name list.