Will Hurricane Patricia Hit Cancun Or Cabo? Which Mexican Vacation Spots Will Be Hit By The Storm?

The world's strongest hurricane in recorded history was expected to make landfall in southwestern Mexico Friday and wreak havoc on the communities and populations in its path. Travel to Mexico, a popular destination for Americans wanting to soak in the sun and swim in the ocean, could be impacted, too, and the Mexican government released advisories for a large swath of Mexico in the path of the storm.

The most likely tourist destinations to be impacted in a severe way by Hurricane Patricia were Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo. Those cities were expecting significant flooding.

Of the top destination spots in the country, Cabo San Lucas seemed to be somewhat likely to feel the effects of Hurricane Patricia and just barely fit in the rough borders of the government's advisory zone. Twitter users visiting the coastal city, however, mocked the idea that hurricane conditions in Cabo were at all bad and posted photos of themselves dramatically yawning and posing in a pool with the sun out Friday afternoon. Other destinations like Cancun were safely out of the way of Patricia's projected path.

The hurricane had wind speeds reach 200 miles per hour Friday morning, and was approaching the Pacific coast of Mexico at a rate of about 10 miles per hour. Some states were expected to get between 8 to 12 inches of rain between Friday and Saturday.

Patricia was classified as a Category 5 hurricane Friday morning and afternoon, though it was not certain how fast the winds would be moving once it actually made landfall. Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people, was a Category 3 hurricane when it hit Louisiana.

There have been a record-breaking number of the highest category hurricanes this season. So far, there have been 22 of those storms, which beats the previous record of 18.