Weather Quiz

What is the deadliest type of weather in an average year in the United States?

A.  Hurricanes

B.  Flooding

C.  Lightning

D.  Heat Waves

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Answer to Weather Quiz question from November 27

C.  Odile was the strongest – and most destructive – hurricane to hit the southern peninsula of Baja California since Olivia in 1967.  Fortunately, the recovery efforts across Cabo San Lucas and much of the other affected areas are well underway.  However, it will take some time to get everything repaired and operational to pre-storm levels.

Although fringe effects (such as choppy surf, gusty winds and light rain) of weakening tropical storms are fairly common, direct hits from major hurricanes are not common in Baja California. This can be attributed to the predominant local wind patterns.  

The prevailing wind patterns in the tropical Eastern Pacific – west of Mexico – blow from east to west (the same as the winds blow off the west coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean).  Only rarely are conditions such that a hurricane is able to deviate from these predominant wind patterns.  

Odile was one of those rare hurricanes.