A Puny Hurricane

(map from the Weather Channel)

The first hurricane of the season, Hurricane Franklin, paid Mexico another visit last night, and, fortunately, it was not much of a storm.  It had earlier crossed the Yucatan Peninsula, and, although there were heavy rains, I have not heard reports of any casualties or serious damage. The storm then headed across the Gulf of Mexico, became a category 1 hurricane, and around midnight last night made landfall along the coast of the state of Veracruz.  As it traveled over the mountains, the storm was quickly downgraded to a tropical storm.  By late morning, as the remnants of  the storm were about 20 miles to the north of Mexico City, the U.S. National Hurricane Center declared Franklin defunct.  

News reports in the U.S. were still warning that central Mexico could receive up to 15 inches of rain and that there was the danger of flash floods and mudslides.  It really sounds as if they were sensationalizing the weather news.  When I got up this morning it was drizzling here in Mexico City.  I ventured out to run some errands.  It was a bit breezy, but I hardly needed the umbrella.  By the time I was returning to the apartment, it was raining more steadily, but it certainly was not a downpour.  Now, as I write this in the late afternoon the skies are still overcast, but it is dry.  Tomorrow the prediction is for partly sunny skies.  

For Mexico City Hurricane Franklin was a non-event.  Hopefully for the rest of the country it was no big deal either.