It certainly does look scary. I read that it made landfall with winds of 165 mph. I guess we'll know more tomorrow.

210 mph at landfall in some areas :(

I too am worried. Puerta Vallarta is one of my favorite vacation spots due to the people there and the mountains. I like to travel alone, and in the 5 trips there, never once have I felt un-safe walking around town at night. The people are kind and helpful, and many have so little.

May they all be safe from this monster storm.

I'm surprised that not many people seem to care. For those who do, here's a description from someone who lived through it. It sounds terrifying. I am glad that the damage doesn't seem to be as bad as anticipated but I worry that there are still places that haven't been heard from.

https://www.facebook.com/iCyclone/posts/10153433315334597:0

Why am I posting a picture of a dark bathroom with a mattress wedged
in the ceiling? Because it protected me and seven other people.

Hurricane PATRICIA. All I can say is: terrifying storm.

After an hour or two of violent, destructive winds in Emiliano Zapata,
the pressure bottomed out at 937.8 mb at 6:12 pm. We saw brightness in
the sky and some touches of blue, and while the wind was still
dangerous, it seemed to be a little less energetic for a few minutes. (I
notice that the NHC's landfall point was *very* close to us! So it
looks like we might have been skirting the edge of the eye at this
time.) Then the pressure started to rapidly rise, and I assumed the
worst of the hurricane had passed. Actually, it hadn't started. (Ugh.)

At 6:34 pm the wind shifted sharply and a wall of wind and rain swept
in, engulfing the hotel with a howling, whistling sound. There was a
complete whiteout. The building trembled. Things were crashing-- big
crashes as the hotel started to blow apart. Erik and I retreated to our
room. A frightened hotel worker joined us and we stood in the dark, not
sure what to do. We heard a terrific explosion and assumed the roof had
blown off. (We were right.) Minutes later a man burst into the room-- a
family across the hall was in trouble-- their room had torn open-- roof,
ceiling, and all had all blown away. Erik rushed across the hall--
which was now a wind tunnel-- and helped them into our room. Then all of
us-- six adults and two children-- crammed into the bathroom: the
family around the toilet, Erik and me in the shower stall, two hotel
workers next to the sink, all of us pressed against each other in the
darkness like trapped animals. Roaring. Crashing. The mother wept-- she
was freaked out. I told her not to worry-- told her (in broken Spanish)
we were totally safe-- but I was talking nonsense, telling a lie. More
crashing. We put pillows and blankets over the children, and Erik and I
put computer bags over our heads and got low. Water was streaming from
the ceiling and we expected it to blow away any second. So Erik and the
two workers and I pulled the mattress off the bed and squeezed it into
the bathroom. We tore the shower doors out to make room, then lifted the
mattress up over everyone and wedged it in to make an extra ceiling.
And we waited.

The howling continued, but the pressure was
rising fast-- into the 960s, then '70s-- and I knew we'd clear the core
soon... just a few more minutes of this insanity. And by maybe 7 pm or
so, we did. We crept out to look at the devastation-- smashed rooms,
mountains of debris, trees stripped bare. And as it got dark the wind
slowly calmed... And we had a tranquil night sleeping on a damp
mattress, the crickets chirping all hours in the black, sticky calm.

On a meteorological note: The pressure gradient in the core of this
cyclone was frightening. The pressure recovered explosively-- 31 mb in
26 minutes (6:24 - 6:50 pm) (!!) and an incredible 15 mb in just 9
minutes (6:34 - 6:43 pm) while the winds ripped apart the hotel. It was
an incredible, frightening experience (and honor) to punch the core of
this Cat-5 hurricane-- the strongest known landfall ever in the Eastern
Pacific. My video footage is messy, shaky, and wild, but I believe it
captures the terror of the experience and I hope to post it soon.

I need to give a HUGE thanks to the team that made this chase awesome:
my right-hand man in Texas, Scott Brownfield; James Hyde; and Jorge
Abelardo Gonzalez. They all helped us interpret PATRICIA's complex
motion in those frantic final hours as we tried to pinpoint the
landfall. And I also want to thank Erik Sereno, who's been an awesome
chase partner. Thanks also to Eric Blake, of the National Hurricane
Center, for his valuable insights on off hours. And finally, I want to
thank all the members of this page who give so much encouragement-- it
helps during really tough chases like PATRICIA.

Erik and I spent
much of the morning helping clean up the wreckage at our hotel, and now
we're almost to Manzanillo. We're gonna sleep well tonight.

I can't get on FB for some reason tonight. Is s/he a storm chaser? Sounds like it. What pressure were they measuring? Barometric?

Yes, it certainly does sound terrifying.

Yeah he's a storm chaser. I am glad he was there as they may have saved that family.

Are you able to get on FB, Chi? I've tried with two browsers, but no go. A friend picked up her rescue puppy today--it arrived from CT--and I want to see the pics she posted. Guess I'll ask her to email them to me.

Yep I see you online too so I think it's just you unfortunately.

Thanks!