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- Currently in Portland — October 11th, 2023: Colder and wetter
Currently in Portland — October 11th, 2023: Colder and wetter
Plus, Hurricane Lidia makes landfall near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Eric Holthaus & Stella Harris
October 11, 2023
The weather, currently.
It’s getting colder and wetter!
Wednesday is turning up the fall vibes even further, with high temps that won’t even break 60, and likely more rain than Tuesday, too. That chance of thunder and lightening is also sticking around, along with even more powerful wind gusts. If you’ve left anything outdoors that isn’t winter ready, now is the time to move it inside or shore it up! Conditions are going to be rough on the coast, so if you were planning a getaway, and especially if you were planning to be on a boat, you may want to rethink. Or at least examine the conditions very closely before heading out. For the rest of us on land, just bundling up ought to do the trick.
What you need to know, currently.
Lidia is the third-strongest hurricane in history to make landfall on Mexico’s Pacific Coast.
Lidia joins a long list of hurricanes that have rapidly intensified in the hours right before landfall in recent years, going from a Category 1 to a Category 4 before slamming into the coastline near Puerto Vallarta.
Meteorologist Bob Henson explains: “Lidia's top sustained winds increased more than predicted, and in spectacular fashion—from 70 mph to 140 mph in the 24 hours before it made landfall. A growing body of research is finding links between rapid intensification and human-caused climate change.”
UPDATE: Category 4 Hurricane #Lidia makes landfall about 35 miles SSW of Puerto Vallarta, #Mexico at 6:00 PM MDT.
— Jeremy Nelson (@jnelsonWJCL)
12:17 AM • Oct 11, 2023
Near-shore ocean temperatures are warming, and when hurricanes like Lidia intensify in the few hours before landfall, it reduces the time that authorities and residents have to respond and prepare. It’s another one of those sinister ways that climate change is making extreme weather worse.
What you can do, currently.
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One of my favorite organizations, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, serves as a hub of mutual aid efforts focused on climate action in emergencies — like hurricane season. Find mutual aid network near you and join, or donate to support existing networks:
