CSU/CIRA & NOAA/Handout via REUTERSHurricane Polo has rapidly intensified off the coast of Mexico to become one of the most powerful storms of the season in the Pacific Ocean.
A Hurricane Hunter aircraft, operated by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), flew into the storm on Tuesday and recorded sustained wind speeds near 180 mph (285 km/h), with stronger gusts.
NOAA’s Miami-based National Hurricane Center called the storm “extremely dangerous” and said its intensification over 24 hours was “truly remarkable”.
The slow-moving storm is fuelling up on extremely warm waters caused by the El Niño climate phenomenon and is the season’s third category 5 storm, the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
As it slowly drifts northwest, Polo will drive torrential rainfall in parts of Mexico’s south-west coast – which could lead to deadly flooding and mudslides, NOAA said.
Rainfall totals of up to 6in (15cm) are forecast, with 8in possible in some areas. Residents have also been warned of large ocean swells and life-threatening surf conditions for the next few days.
“So far, the information we have is that (Polo) will not make a direct landfall on the coast,” Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday, but she warned residents along the Pacific coast to be vigilant. Sheinbaum highlighted the states of Jalisco, Colima and Michoacan as being at risk.
Data from the Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicated that Polo could still strengthen and would likely stay a category 5 storm for the next few days, because of what NOAA called a “very conducive” environment of extremely warm ocean waters feeding the storm.
ReutersScientists monitoring the ocean temperatures say the current El Niño climate phenomenon is now the strongest on record.
Daily sea surface temperatures in a key region of the central-eastern Pacific were 3.05C above average on 19 September – exceeding the previous record of 3.02C set during the very strong El Niño of 2015.
Some longer-term measures of El Niño have not yet hit record levels but this is likely to change, with the peak not expected until later this year.
Warmer ocean waters mean storms can pick up more energy, leading to higher wind speeds.
El Niño is a naturally-occurring pattern, which happens about every two to seven years and tends to last for around a year.
Trade winds that typically blow from east to west across the Pacific Ocean can weaken or even reverse, allowing warm water to spread eastwards.
Heat is then released from the ocean into the atmosphere which can boost global temperatures and drive changes in weather patterns around the world.
