NASA’s Terra satellite captured a visible image of Newton on September 5, Monday, at 1:45 p.m. EDT (17:45 UTC) just as it was classified as a hurricane. The US hurricane center’s latest advisory placed Newton 80 kilometers west of La Paz at 1500 GMT.
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A tropical storm warning is in effect from north of Cabo San Lazaro to Punta Abreojos in Baja California Sur.
Newton was about 200 kilometres southeast of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo by early Tuesday.
On Sept. 6 a Hurricane Warning is in effect from Cabo San Lazaro to Mulege, including Cabo San Lucas, and from Guaymas to Bahia Kino, Mexico.
Forecasters continued to post hurricane warnings Tuesday for a portion of the southern Baja Peninsula, along with a small portion of the Baja coast in northwest Mexico, The Weather Channel reported, noting that hurricane force winds of 75 miles per hour or greater were expected. “In general, no victims”, Army Col. Enrique Rangel said.
“You know, it could have been a lot worse and I think we are very fortunate that it wasn’t as bad as Odile”, said Darlene Savord, another tourist from California.
The hurricane is moving northwest at 25 kph (about 16 mph), packing sustained winds of 130 kph (81 mph), with gusts of 155 kph (96 mph). The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted Newton could cross the peninsula as a hurricane and re-enter the gulf.
The US National Hurricane Center also confirmed that Newton was “battering Baja California Sur (state) with strong winds and heavy rains”.
Newton is expected to travel up Baja, covering about half the peninsula, before crossing the Gulf of California, to the mainland of Mexico.
Near the Arizona-Sonora border, Newton will probably still be at tropical storm strength, Meyer said, with winds out of the east at 30-40 miles per hour. Although no deaths or injuries were reported, more than a third of flights out of Los Cabos International Airport were canceled. Officers guarded several shops to prevent the kind of looting that was seen after Odile struck.
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Newton’s winds broke some hotel windows but the 14,000 tourists in Los Cabos were “safe” in rooms made to shelter them within the facilities, said state tourism secretary Genaro Ruiz Hernandez.
