'Extremely dangerous' Hurricane Polo intensifies to rare category 5 storm
The storm's sudden intensification off the coast of Mexico is "truly remarkable", the US hurricane monitoring agency said.
'Extremely dangerous' Hurricane Polo strengthens into rare category 5 storm
Hurricane Polo has quickly intensified off Mexico’s coast, becoming one of the Pacific Ocean’s most powerful storms this season.
A Hurricane Hunter aircraft run by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) entered the storm on Tuesday and measured sustained winds of nearly 180 mph (285 km/h), along with stronger gusts.
NOAA’s Miami-based National Hurricane Center described the storm as "extremely dangerous" and said its strengthening over 24 hours was "truly remarkable".
The slow-moving system is drawing energy from exceptionally warm waters linked to the El Niño climate phenomenon and is the season’s third category 5 storm, the highest rating on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
According to a NOAA warning, the storm is expected to pass near the coast of south-western Mexico, but is not forecast to make landfall.
As it gradually moves northwest, Polo will bring torrential rain to parts of Mexico’s south-west coast, which could trigger deadly flooding and mudslides, NOAA said.
Rainfall totals of as much as 6in (15cm) are expected, with 8in possible in some places. Residents have also been warned about large ocean swells and life-threatening surf conditions over 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, while urging people along the Pacific coast to remain alert. Sheinbaum pointed to the states of Jalisco, Colima and Michoacan as areas at risk.
Data from the Hurricane Hunter aircraft showed that Polo could still intensify and would probably remain a category 5 storm for the next few days, due to what NOAA described as a "very conducive" environment of extremely warm ocean waters feeding the storm.
Scientists tracking ocean temperatures say the current El Niño climate phenomenon is now the strongest on record.
Daily sea surface temperatures in a key area of the central-eastern Pacific were 3.05C above average on 19 September, surpassing the previous record of 3.02C set during the very strong El Niño of 2015.
Some longer-term El Niño measures have not yet reached record highs, but that is likely to change, with the peak not expected until later this year.
Warmer ocean waters allow storms to absorb more energy, resulting in stronger winds.
El Niño is a naturally occurring pattern that happens about every two to seven years and usually lasts around a year.
Trade winds that normally blow from east to west across the Pacific Ocean can weaken or even reverse, letting warm water spread eastward.
Heat is then released from the ocean into the atmosphere, which can raise global temperatures and alter weather patterns around the world.