Southern California could face dangerous surf and rip currents from Hurricane Polo after the Pacific storm grew into a Category 5 monster overnight.
Polo was packing maximum sustained winds of 160 mph as of 6 a.m. Tuesday, after undergoing a period of rapid strengthening, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The hurricane was roughly 220 miles south of Zihuatanejo in the Mexican state of Guerrero. The dramatic escalation occurred after Polo had only strengthened from a tropical storm into a Category 1 hurricane Monday afternoon.
While the hurricane itself is expected to remain offshore, its effects could begin reaching Southern California by the weekend, bringing strong swells, tropical humidity and potentially dangerous rip currents.
The threat comes just weeks after Hurricane Marie battered the California coast with flooding and high tides, and as the state prepares for what officials have warned could be a historic El Niño season.
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency Monday, allowing agencies to prepare vulnerable communities, roads and critical infrastructure, as well as stage emergency supplies ahead of potentially destructive winter weather.
Exactly where Polo goes next remains uncertain.
Forecasting models reviewed by the Daily Mail show several possible routes for the storm or its remnants over the next seven to 10 days, though only a small number of models see Polo’s center heading toward California.
Other projections show tropical moisture potentially moving into Arizona and New Mexico next week, while Texas remains a more distant possibility, the outlet reported.
Meteorologist Ross Ellet of 13ABC said most models still steer Polo away from the US.
“While a few models have this storm turning into the Gulf of California, and possibly into the Southwestern part of the US, most weather maps push this storm northwest away from land,” Ellet said. “This will need to be watched in the days ahead.”
Meanwhile, Mexico faces the storm’s more immediate danger.
Polo could unleash 4 to 8 inches of rain across coastal Guerrero and Michoacán through Thursday, with isolated totals reaching 12 inches, according to the Daily Mail.
The torrential rain could trigger life-threatening flooding and mudslides in mountainous areas, while large swells are expected to produce dangerous surf and rip currents along Mexico’s southwestern coast.
Polo is the 16th named storm to form in the Eastern Pacific this year.
