Hurricane Bonnie has put an unusual stamp in the weather history books following its formation in the southwestern Caribbean Sea, passage through Central America and emergence into the East Pacific Ocean all within the span of 24 hours.
Article continues below
Now, the second named storm of the Atlantic season has become the eastern Pacific Ocean's next hurricane.
At 10 p.m. CDT Sunday, Bonnie strengthened over East Pacific waters, just west of Nicaragua, and became the third hurricane of the season in the basin.
At the time, Hurricane Bonnie had sustained wind speeds of 80 mph (128 km/h) and was moving to the west-northwest at 17 mph (27 km/h), according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
The hurricane was located about 210 miles (335 km) south of Salina Cruz, Mexico, and was classified as a Category 1 hurricane (sustained winds of 74-95 mph or 119-153 km/h) on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
At the time of its landfall along the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border on Friday night, Bonnie was a 50-mph (80 km/h) tropical storm, with flooding rainfall being the primary risk to lives and property from the storm in these countries.
Only two named storms on record have made landfall in Costa Rica, in 1887 and 1973.
The only landfall farther south was Tropical Storm Martha in 1969, which is the only recorded landfall in the country of Panama.
By 10 a.m. CDT Saturday, Bonnie had moved offshore of Nicaragua and was charting a course through the waters of the East Pacific.
Since the storm's circulation remained intact and did not fall apart over land, the NHC continued to dub the storm Bonnie, as opposed to giving it the next name on the 2022 East Pacific hurricane season's list (Darby).
This is the first crossover storm since November 2016 when Hurricane Otto's circulation remained intact as it traveled over Costa Rica and emerged into the Eastern Pacific as a tropical storm. ■
A slow-moving, wavy frontal system stretching from the Northeast to the Ohio/Tennessee Valleys to the central/southern High Plains will be the focus for several rounds of severe thunderstorms and drenching downpours Friday into the first half of the weekend.