'Potentially catastrophic' Hurricane Patricia is bearing down on Mexico

Hurricane Patricia is heeded toward Mexico — (Image credit: Twitter/@NWSNHC)

On Thursday night, the U.S. National Weather Service had some bad news for Mexico:

Hurricane Patricia, now a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 160 miles per hour, is about 200 miles southwest of Manzanillo, a port south of Puerto Vallarta on Mexico's Pacific coast, and is headed toward land at about 10 miles per hour. "Confidence is high that Patricia will make landfall in the hurricane warning area," the National Weather Service said, "as an extremely dangerous major hurricane during Friday afternoon or evening." And the coastal areas aren't the only parts of Mexico in danger, NWS said, with "life-threatening flash floods and mud slides" likely in four Mexican states — Jalisco, Michoacan, Colima, and Guerrero — Friday night and Saturday.

Update: On Friday, the National Weather Service said that Patricia now has sustained winds of 200 miles per hour, making it "the strongest Eastern North Pacific hurricane on record."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.