Communities in Mexico’s Baja California Sur are preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Polo, which remains a major hurricane even after its downgrade to a Category 3 storm earlier this weekend. The storm’s intensity has fluctuated as it swirled hundreds of miles off Mexico’s southwest coast early Sunday, but it was still expected to make landfall as a strong storm in Baja California on Monday, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. A hurricane warning is in effect for a stretch of northwestern Mexico from Punta Abreojos to Santa Fe in Baja California, the east coast of Baja California Sur, from Loreto to Santa Rosalía, and in mainland Mexico from Guaymas to Huatabampito. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 125 mph in the hurricane center’s latest update. Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 45 mph from the center of the storm, while tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 105 mph. Elsewhere in the Pacific, Hurricane Nolo passed over the Big Island of Hawaii this weekend, bringing heavy rain and winds. Maps show the projected path of Hurricane Polo Polo’s core on Sunday was about 260 miles west of Cabo San Lucas at the tip of the Baja California peninsula. It was heading north at 12 mph. The storm is expected to move north in the coming hours. On Monday, Polo is forecast to turn northeast and make landfall in Baja California Sur and then move across northwest mainland Mexico on Tuesday. The State Department, citing forecast models, said the storm is expected to weaken to Category 1 before making landfall. It will then continue northeast toward southern Sonora, the State Department said. The Hurricane Center noted, however, that despite weakening, Polo is still expected to be a “strong hurricane” when it reaches Baja California Sur. CBS News/Nikki Nolan Polo could produce 4 to 8 inches of rain, and up to 10 inches in isolated areas, in parts of Baja California Sur, the hurricane center said, warning that the rain “may produce life-threatening flooding and landslides, especially in areas of steep terrain.” Along with the hurricane warning, tropical storm warnings were also in effect for the west coast of Baja California Sur, north of Punta Abreojos to Punta Eugenia; the east coast of Baja California Sur, north of Santa Rosalía to Bahía San Juan Bautista; the east coast of Baja California Sur, south of Loreto to San Evaristo; and continental Mexico north of Guaymas to Bahía Kino and south of Huatabampito to Topolobampo. Hurricane watches were also established for those areas. CBS News/Nikki Nolan Polo Waves generated by the hurricane will affect Mexico’s southwestern coast over the next few days, spreading northward along the coast of the Baja California peninsula over the weekend, the hurricane center said, warning that the waves “will likely cause life-threatening surge, rip currents and coastal flooding.” Mexican leaders ordered evacuations, opened shelters and deployed military troops to areas that could be affected by the storm. Classes were suspended in schools in the city of Acapulco, on the coast of Guerrero, its municipal government announced. Shelters across the state remained open and officials said they were coordinating with local and national authorities to prepare for additional impacts from the hurricane. Polo’s Extremely Rapid Intensification Polo experienced what is called extremely rapid intensification, in which a storm’s wind speed increases by 58 mph or more over the course of 24 hours, between September 21 and 22. Its intensification was dramatic even by those standards, with winds soaring from 45 mph on the morning of September 21 to 150 mph around the same time the next day. The hurricane center described the storm’s transformation as “truly remarkable.” Its maximum sustained winds reached 180 mph at one point, far exceeding the 157 mph threshold for Category 5, the strongest on the hurricane scale. Polo’s central pressure, an indicator of its strength and destructive potential, made it the second-strongest hurricane on record in the eastern Pacific, behind 2015’s Hurricane Patricia. The storm’s wind speeds tied with 2009’s Hurricane Rick as the third-strongest on record in the region. Unusually strong El Niño conditions this year have been amplifying tropical cyclone activity in the Pacific, with warmer waters, moist air and less wind shear allowing storms to form. Nikki Nolan contributed to this report. More from CBS News Go deeper with The Free Press in:
