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Hurricane Paul Strengthens Near Mexico

Compared to last year`s highly active hurricane season, 2006 has been quiet or at least mild in comparison (as far as landfalls are concerned). Enter Hurricane Paul, a currently category 2 hurricane that - according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center - is making its way across the Pacific with the Baja Peninsula in the crosshairs. Perhaps most interesting about the changes for Hurricane Paul is that the storm is expected to pick up speed as it approaches Mexico. As of press time, Paul was about 475 miles south of Cabo San Lucas.

Some forecasters are predicting that the storm will push significantly into the Mexican mainland. It is expected, anyway, that conditions could worsen within the next 36 hours, prompting the Mexican government to issue a severe storm warning. As of this point, there have not been any storms to hit North America similar to Hurricanes Dennis and of course Katrina in 2005. Hurricane Katrina caused larges swaths of damage along the American coast of the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in thousands of deaths.

While Hurricane Paul isn`t expected to endanger any Mexican communities in the same way that Katrina endangered American communities, Mexico City isn`t leaving much to chance. Even so, the Mexican government has limited resources, and must surely be hoping that once Paul hits the Baja Peninsula it will be sapped of much of its strength. As of Sunday, Hurricane Paul had maximum sustained winds of 74 miles per hour, on Monday, the speed had increased to at least 100 miles per hour.