2015 Hurricane Patricia

Overview

Hurricane Patricia was a tropical cyclone that impacted Central/Western Mexico in October 2015. The hurricane was rated as one of the most intense ever recorded to date due to record breaking low pressure and sustained/gusting wind ratings. Due to perfect environmental conditions, the storm developed from tropical depression classification to Category 5 in just 24 hours.

Background

The original storm disturbance incubated off the southern Pacific-Mexico coast near the Gulf of Tehuantepec on October 14th, 2015. The disturbance gained “tropical depression” classification on October 20th as it worked its way up the Mexican coast. By October 22nd, the depression had intensified to “tropical storm” strength as it neared the Western-Central Mexican coast. Within 24 hours the storm met exceptional environmental conditions as it strengthened to Category 5 hurricane classification.^[1] The intensity of the storm was ranked greater than any other Eastern Pacific hurricane on record (since the 1960s).^[2] Gusting winds of over 200 mph (330 km/h) were recorded within the storm as widespread rains produced flooding over Central America.

Notable Developments

International Space Station Tweet

In the morning of October 23rd, astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted a picture of Patricia as seen from aboard the International Space Station.^[3] Within 12 hours, the picture gained over 31,500 retweets and over 19,100 favorites. The picture was shared on multiple news websites and received trending status on Facebook.^[4]

Elsewhere On Twitter

Tweets about the hurricane were tracked using the hashtags #Patricia and #HurricanePatricia.^[5] From October 21st to October 23rd, Topsy Analytics recorded over 316,000 tweets used #Patricia and over 96,000 used #HurricanePatricia. The hashtag #Mexico was also used in conjunction with the conversation.

On Reddit

On Social News site Reddit, stories and news of the hurricane spread starting October 23rd and on. The sub-reddit /r/HurricanePatricia was created mid-day on the 23rd, where stories of the hurricane were shared.^[6] A live feed was created the same day, and featured live developments about the hurricane. Throughout the day, the stream averaged over 1,500 readers.^[7] Multiple threads also reached the front page on the 23rd as well. Of those was a post to /r/WorldNews titled “Hurricane Patricia is now measured to be the strongest Hurricane we have ever seen”^[8] which gained over 6,000 upvotes and 3,700 comments in 10 hours, as well as an /r/Science AMA^[9] which gained over 4,000 upvotes in 8 hours.

Search Interest

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External References