Hurricane Liza 1976

This hurricane reached category 4 on September 30, 1976 before hitting the southern peninsula of Baja California and Sonora with force, it hit the bay of La Paz leaving in its wake a great devastation, and -to date more than 43 years after the event- there is no official death toll; The virtual sources that recall the cyclone indicate that the Ángel César Alvarado government initially spoke of 600 people being killed, however, since then it has been speculated that the victims could be between 2,000 and up to 5,000 . The natural phenomenon left 10,000 victims, with total damages of 3 million pesos .

Of course: all the sources consulted coincide in pointing to this cyclone as " The worst disaster in the history of Baja California Su r"

Oct. 2, 1976: Car rests on top of second in aftermath of Hurrican Liza that lashed La Paz, Mexico. Over 400 people were died in La Paz. This photo was published in the Oct. 3, 1976 Los Angeles Times.

Real evidence of Mrs. Irma

What Doña Irma remembers the most is the next day: October 1, when with her husband and son they went home to the Infonavit neighborhood .

"It looked like La Paz had been bombed," he said. In the course of his parents' house to his home, crossing as best they could by the Forjadores, he assures that from Morelos High School to Colima he saw approximately 30 or more citizens dead, semi-buried and full of mud , who had literally been thrown onto the streets by the streams. Many more did not have the same "luck", as the current took them directly to the sea, without their whereabouts ever being known.

What is an Extratropical Cyclone?

Es un sistema atmosférico cuya fuente primaria de energía es el gradiente horizontal de la temperatura. Los ciclones extratropicales son sistemas de baja presión asociados a frentes fríos, cálidos o ocluídos. Los ciclones tropicales, a diferencia de los extratropicales, no manifiestan un gradiente horizontal de temperaturas tan sustancial en todo el diámetro de la tormenta, a nivel de la superficie, y sus vientos son generados por la liberación de energía durante la formación de las nubes y la lluvia; estos se componen por dos o más masas de aire (cálido o frío), por lo tanto se asocia a uno o más frentes.

Los esquemas superiores muestran mapas horizontales de la temperatura de la superficie, la presión y los campos de viento asociados a un ciclón tropical (izquierda) y un ciclón extratropical (derecha). Los colores indican la temperatura (azul 15°C=59°F, verde azul 20°C=68°F, verde 25°C=77°F). Las lineas discontinuas indican velocidades del viento de superficie : 34 kt=39 mph=63 kph, 64 kt=74 mph=117 kph, y 96 kt=110 mph=174 kph. Lineas continuas son las isobaras. El esquemas inferior muestra los mapas de las superficies verticales de presión, anomalías de la temperatura y la circulación en la superficie y la tropopausa.

The strongest winds in a tropical cyclone occur near the earth's surface, while in an extratropical cyclone the strongest winds occur near the tropopause (at a height of 12 km (8 miles). These differences arise as a consequence of that the tropical cyclone has a "warm core" in the troposphere (below the tropopause), while the extratropical cyclone has a cold core in the troposphere and warm in the stratosphere (above the tropopause). The expression "warm core" it means that the center of the cyclone is warmer than the environment at the periphery of the storm, on the same isobaric surface (speaking of isobaric surfaces is like speaking of heights from the ground). Contribution Stan Goldenberg source: NOA