The rapid intensification of Hurricane Polo in the Pacific Ocean has prompted some weather analysts to call the storm a “Category 6” as it threatens the Mexican coastline this weekend.
The storm reached Category 5 strength, the highest official rating, reserved for storms with winds of at least 157 mph, three times this week, prompting one meteorologist to suggest it may belong in a category that does not officially exist, the Daily Mail reported early Saturday morning.
“Polo went through a period of what can only be described as explosively rapid intensification,” said Gary Partyka, an atmospheric scientist with the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in an email. “This was RAPID, rapid intensification,” a report on NASA’s official website indicated.
One meteorologist said, “If there will ever be Category 6, then you’re looking at it now. Hurricane Polo had an interesting Thursday with explosive convection in all directions. Today’s operation: shattering the record book.”
The powerful hurricane’s current forecasted path shows it approaching Baja California Sur early next week, although its exact landfall timing remains uncertain and long-range models show several possible paths carrying Polo’s remnants, the weakened remains of the hurricane, into Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, unleashing heavy rain, flooding, and high winds.
“The satellite imagery of Polo is very impressive, with the storm’s large, clear eye and extensive outflow pattern,” said Kristen Corbosiero, an atmospheric scientist at the State University of New York at Albany who is working on a NASA project using satellite data to study tropical cyclone ventilation. “Weak winds above the system and good outflow at the top of the system also contributed to Polo’s rapid intensification,” she added.
As Polo developed, it moved over areas in the Pacific where sea surface temperatures were as high as 90 degrees Fahrenheit, several degrees warmer than usual for mid-late September. Surface waters across much of the region were above 82°F, the temperature generally required to sustain and intensify hurricanes.
Daily Mail reported that residents stacked sandbags to fortify beachfront shops and evacuated their homes in some coastal areas beginning Thursday.
Mexican authorities opened shelters and cleared people from southwestern coastal beaches, and 15,000 security personnel were deployed across the area.
Polo is the first recorded hurricane in the Eastern Pacific to reach Category 5 strength on three separate occasions.
Despite its strength, Polo’s hurricane-force winds extend only 40 miles from its center with tropical-storm-force winds reaching just 125 miles away from the storm’s center, according to the NHC.