Hurricane Polo Intensifies Off Mexico’s Coast

Polo’s intensification is similar to Hurricane Otis in 2023, which had a wind increase of 105 miles per hour in 21 hours before it made landfall near Acapulco, Mexico, and caused catastrophic damage.

Mexican authorities have issued tropical storm warnings along Mexico’s southwestern coast from Tecpan de Galeana to Punta San Telmo. The outer bands of Polo are expected to bring heavy rainfall of 3 to 6 inches to coastal Guerrero and Michoacán through Thursday, with isolated totals of up to 8 inches of rainfall. Coastal areas in Oaxaca, Colima, and Jalisco could receive 2 to 4 inches of rain.

The rainfall could cause severe flooding and mudslides, especially in steep terrain. The region has suffered devastating flooding caused by a hurricane before, when Hurricane John produced deadly flash flooding and mudslides in southern Mexico in September 2024.

Swells from Polo are also expected to produce life-threatening surf and rip currents, as well as coastal flooding, along the southwestern Mexican coast over the next few days. Waters off Baja California Sur are forecast to see worsening conditions beginning Friday, as the hurricane may approach the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula over the weekend, according to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico. NWS San Diego said there could be “at least some peripheral impacts” to parts of Southern California, including possible coastal flooding and erosion.