John makes a comeback; to pay Acapulco, Mexico a 2nd visit with torrential rain
John is literally getting its second wind, but instead of striking Mexico again with powerful Category 3 hurricane winds, this time the tropical storm will bring a new round of torrential rain and flooding.
Hurricane John made landfall as a Category 3 storm with wind gusts of up to 120 mph along Mexico’s Pacific coast, which included the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero on Sept. 23-24. John is forecast to return to the Mexico coast as a hurricane.
John, once a Category 3 hurricane, diminished for a time but has since re-formed just offshore in the Pacific. The storm will make an encore visit to Acapulco and much of the same area of the Mexico coast as the first round, with torrential rainfall and dangerous flooding being the greatest threats to lives and property, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.
Because of the risks to lives and property from flash flooding, mudslides, storm surge and high winds, the AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes is a 3.
As communities along the country’s Pacific coast prepared for the storm to make a second landfall, Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador raised the death toll from Hurricane John to five, according to The Associated Press.
Soon after John became a major hurricane, it moved inland over Mexico and quickly lost wind intensity but dumped torrential rainfall near Acapulco earlier this week. John's first round of downpour delivered at least 17 inches of rain to Acapulco and a whopping 21 inches of rain to Las Viga, Mexico. Rain has continued to pour down in some areas since then.
"Because part of the old circulation from John remained intact as it drifted offshore over the Pacific and regained wind intensity, the storm retained its former name," AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva said.
John will drift northeastward once again and make landfall along the Mexico coast before the end of this week. This time, the center of the storm will track west of Acapulco instead of east of the major port city and vacation destination. The first landfall was farther to the southwest along the Mexico coast.
"Interaction with land will again cause a loss of wind intensity with John, but the storm will wring out torrential rain once again," DaSilva said.
Factoring in both deluges from John, a total of several feet of rain is likely to pour down in some communities with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ rainfall of 50 inches.
"Especially where the old and new rain areas overlap, the risk of flash flooding and mudslides will be greatest. However, life-threatening conditions can occur even where the first round of rain stayed away," DaSilva added.
Some of John's strongest winds will affect Acapulco this time around, but the feature is forecast to peak at Category 1 hurricane intensity rather than that of a major hurricane.
A storm surge of up to a few feet can occur with the greatest danger of inundation near and just to the southeast of where the center makes landfall.
It may take until the weekend before all of the downpours from John as a tropical rainstorm diminish.
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