The arch off Cabo San Lucas
© Geraldine Wilkins The famous arch off Cabo San Lucas
If you've scheduled a fishing trip to Cabo San Lucas early this week, bring your umbrella and plan on spending time indoors.

Hurricane Jimena, off mainland Mexico, has intensified overnight and is classified as a Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of about 135 mph. At 8 a.m. Sunday its center was located 515 miles south-southeast of Cabo and was tracking to the northwest (see graphic below) at about 9 mph.

The National Hurricane Center predicts it will skirt the Baja California peninsula before making landfall Tuesday night in the Magdalena Bay area. It will deliver plenty of much-needed rain, but might also cause extensive flooding.

The region desperately needs rain. Cattle are perishing and some residents in Los Cabos and throughout Baja California Sur are being given running water only once or twice a week. (Running water is not an issue for hotel guests.)

Graphic
© The National Hurricane CenterHurricane Jimena
The storm might also lead to temporary port closures. Eric Bricston, who runs Gordo Banks Pangas out of San Jose del Cabo, said via e-mail: "This storm does look dangerous and most likely on Monday morning we will have to haul all of the pangas [skiffs] out of the marina docking area up to the houses. A lot of heavy work, but it is better to be safe than sorry."

That's a common refrain at this time of year.