Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Hurricane Katia

Hurricane Irma has been pummeling its way through on path to the U.S. this week, with Hurricane Jose following closely behind. However, most people have not yet become aware of Hurricane Katia, which is now strengthening.

According to Accuweather, Katia is only sitting at a category one right now, which is much milder than Irma by comparison, which has said to be “the most powerful Atlantic Ocean hurricane in recorded history.” But Katia is expected to pick up.

Since the beginning of the week, Katia has been stewing out in the southwestern area of the Gulf of Mexico. This has caused some rough surf and increased the rainfall in the eastern areas of Mexico throughout the week.

Scroll Down for Everything You Need to Know About Hurricane Katia

Not Expected to Move Much Currently

While Katia is expected to increase its power, it is not anticipated that it will move much currently.

The Weather Channel reports Katia “continues to meander in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico just over 200 miles east of Tampico, Mexico.”

The benefit to this development is that residents of Mexico who are in its path have a greater chance of seeking saftey, since the story is said to not have moved very much over the course of the day. However, once Katia makes its way toward land, it could potentially increase the size of the tide by seven feet.

Where It Will Hit

According to AccuWeather, Katia is headed on a path that will see it “move inland between Tuxpan and Veracruz, Mexico, on Friday night.”

When it does, it’s expected that it could do damage to roofs and buildings with weak structure. It is also expected to knock down trees and trigger power outages. There are also reports of flooding to occur, very likely in areas like, Tamaulipas and eastern parts of Veracruz.

The rainfall that Katia will bring is estimated to hit Mexico on Saturday or Sunday. Ten to 15 inches of rain is expected currently, but some isolated amounts are said to potentially hit 25 inches.

Category 2 or 3

There are conflicting reports as to whether or not Katia will grow to be only a category two hurricane, or if it might go on to become a category three.

AccuWeather has reported that Katia’s winds could reach a speed of anywhere between 96 mph and 110 mph, which would make it a category two hurricane.

On the contrary, however, AL.com has reported that the storm could slam into Mexico’s coast having reach category three status, which would put its winds at somewhere in 111mph to 130mph range.

Hurricane expert, Dan Kottlowski said the hurricane would bring strong and damaging winds to coastal areas within 50 to 60 miles of the landfall point. However, hurricanes are notoriously unpredictable and the consensus does seem to suggest that Katia will increase her power, just nowhere near what Irma has reached.