On October 23rd  ago a huge storm hit the coast of Mexico with winds stronger than any other hurricane in the books. The storm was expected to be devastating to Mexico due to its massive wind speed. However, Mexico was lucky, and the storm passed through without taking any lives.

This storm, Hurricane Patricia, was a Category 5 storm (which is the strongest a storm can be categorized into.) With winds blowing up to 200 mph as it approached land, it was expected to be one of the most catastrophic storms in history. By the time Patricia hit Mexico its windspeed dwindled down to 165 mph, making the storm less (but still significantly) dangerous.

While the hurricane caused some damage to the area, there were no storm related casualties reported. The beaches at which the hurricane was expected to strike were evacuated by thousands of people, thus keeping residents and tourists in the area safe.

The hurricane was expected to have a calamitous outcome, but the storm passed through Mexico without creating much havoc. This is largely attributed to both the fact that the hurricane hit a mildly populated area and its record breaking winds that were confined within a small portion of the storm itself. The closest populated area to Patricia was Cuixmala, a luxurious resort with multiple villas and casitas. The closest city was Manzanillo, with a population a little over 100,00 people. When the storm hit, its strongest were about 165, but these winds were no farther than about 15 miles from the eye of the storm. Considering that Manzanillo was 50 miles away from the Patricia, it was not in danger of it most ferocious winds. Although the hurricane damaged a few houses, causing a few power outages, and gave way to some flooding and mudslides, Mexico was mostly in good shape and seemed to have avoided what could have been disastrous.

Even though this storm may not become famous for destruction the same way hurricanes Katrina and Sandy did, it will certain be remembered by meteorologists, paleotempestologists, or any  tropical storm enthusiasts as the strongest storm on record today.