Hurricane Polo has rapidly intensified into a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, Mexico’s National Meteorological Service (SMN), part of the National Water Commission (Conagua), announced early Wednesday. As of midnight central Mexico time, the storm’s center was located over the Pacific Ocean, roughly 340 kilometers (about 210 miles) south of Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, and 530 kilometers (about 330 miles) south-southeast of Manzanillo, Colima.
Polo is packing maximum sustained winds of 215 km/h (134 mph), with gusts reaching 260 km/h (162 mph), and is creeping east-southeast at just 7 km/h (about 4 mph). Although the hurricane remains well offshore, the SMN is coordinating with the U.S. National Hurricane Center and has issued a watch zone stretching from Tecpan de Galeana, Guerrero, to Manzanillo, Colima, as a precaution.
Forecasters warn that Polo’s broad circulation will bring intense rainfall in the coming hours: 75 to 150 millimeters (3 to 6 inches) across coastal and southern Guerrero and Oaxaca; 50 to 75 millimeters (2 to 3 inches) in coastal and southern Michoacán; and 25 to 50 millimeters (1 to 2 inches) in eastern and southern Jalisco and in Colima. Authorities are urging residents in these areas to stay alert for flooding and mudslides as the storm’s outer bands move through.
For full details and the latest updates, check out the original report from Excélsior.
Source: <![CDATA[El huracán Polo se intensifica a categoría 4, informa el Servicio Meteorológico Nacional]]> (RSS::excelsior.com.mx – Portada).
Image: NASA Goddard Photo and Video, BY 2.0 (via Openverse).