Hurricane Polo Hits Category 5 With 110 mph Explosion

Hurricane Polo surged from a 50 mph storm to a rare Category 5 with 180 mph winds in 24 hours, tying the strongest storm on Earth this year.

Hurricane Polo underwent extreme rapid intensification Tuesday in the Pacific off Mexico's coast, with sustained winds rocketing to 180 mph and reaching Category 5 strength. According to CNN, that is a wind increase of 110 mph in 24 hours — from a 50 mph tropical storm to a 160 mph Category 5 between Monday and Tuesday morning — far beyond the 58 mph threshold that defines extreme rapid intensification. The National Hurricane Center called the rate 'truly remarkable' and among the fastest on record in the Eastern Pacific, and a NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft flying into the storm Tuesday recorded sustained winds near 180 mph with stronger gusts.

Polo's 180 mph winds tie a pair of West Pacific super typhoons for the strongest storm on the planet so far this year, per CNN's report. It is the season's third Category 5 storm in the Pacific. The BBC attributes the explosive growth to extremely warm waters from the El Niño climate phenomenon, which it reports is now the strongest on record: daily sea surface temperatures in a key central-eastern Pacific region hit 3.05C above average on September 19, exceeding the previous record of 3.02C set during the very strong 2015 El Niño. Only Hurricane Patricia's 120 mph jump in 2015 was faster in the Eastern Pacific, with 2023's Hurricane Otis — a 105 mph increase in 21 hours before devastating Acapulco — a close comparison.

The evidence for Polo's strength comes from direct measurement as well as satellites. NOAA's Miami-based National Hurricane Center, which flew the Hurricane Hunter mission into the storm, labeled Polo 'extremely dangerous' and said its 24-hour intensification was 'truly remarkable,' according to the BBC. CNN's satellite imagery from CIRA/CSU and NOAA shows the storm as a Category 5 Tuesday afternoon. NOAA added that data from the aircraft indicated Polo could still strengthen and would likely remain a Category 5 for the next few days, given what the agency called a 'very conducive' environment of extremely warm ocean waters.

The dangerous core is expected to stay offshore, but rainfall is Polo's most significant threat. CNN reports tropical storm alerts are in effect for Mexico's southwestern coast, with 3 to 6 inches of rain possible in Guerrero and Michoacán states — locally up to 8 inches — through Thursday, and 2 to 4 inches in coastal Oaxaca, Colima and Jalisco, raising risks of life-threatening flooding and mudslides. The BBC reports Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum said Polo is not expected to make a direct landfall but warned residents in Jalisco, Colima and Michoacán to stay vigilant, with large swells and life-threatening surf also forecast. Meanwhile, CBS News reports Southern California coastal communities are on high alert as the Category 5 storm churns in the Pacific.

Polo was a few hundred miles south-southeast of Manzanillo, Mexico, on Tuesday, moving southeastward before an expected turn northwest Tuesday night, according to CNN. It is forecast to move northwestward parallel to the Mexican coastline through the end of the week, keeping its hurricane-force winds offshore. NOAA expects the storm to hold Category 5 intensity for several days as it feeds on record-warm water. The broader context is a hyperactive Pacific season driven by the super El Niño, with the BBC noting El Niño events naturally occur every two to seven years, weaken trade winds and spread warm water eastward — and that warmer oceans let storms draw more energy and reach higher wind speeds, with more hurricanes now intensifying rapidly as Earth's oceans warm.