Posted on 09/23/2026 8:22:02 AM PDT by Red Badger
Hurricane Polo is an absolutely monstrous storm that everyone that lives in the entire state of California should be closely monitoring right now. On Monday, it was just a tropical storm that very few people had heard about. By Tuesday, it had become the most intense hurricane in the Western Hemisphere so far this year. It experienced one of the fastest rates of rapid intensification on record, and it is now a Category 5 storm. The National Hurricane Center is calling Polo “extremely dangerous”, and meteorologists are waiting to see what it does next. Is it possible that it will actually hit California?
It is very rare to see a storm of this magnitude in the eastern Pacific.
According to CNN, Hurricane Polo “is still strengthening” even after reaching Category 5…
Hurricane Polo is still strengthening after undergoing extreme rapid intensification and becoming a rare Category 5 on Tuesday morning in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico.
The 165 mph storm is feeding off of a favorable atmosphere and warmer water driven by the super El Niño, which is fueling a hyperactive hurricane season across the Pacific.
165 mile per hour winds can literally rip homes to shreds.
So this is a very, very serious storm.
The National Hurricane Center is usually very conservative in describing storms, but even they are calling it “extremely dangerous”, and they expect Polo to continue to intensify through Wednesday…
Hurricane Polo rapidly intensified off the coast of southwestern Mexico on Tuesday, growing into a powerful Category 5 storm that could bring life-threatening flooding to parts of the states of Guerrero and Michoacán, the National Hurricane Center said.
The hurricane center called Polo “extremely dangerous” on Tuesday, as its maximum sustained winds climbed to 165 mph. It will likely continue to strengthen through Wednesday, it said.
For now, Hurricane Polo is expected to move parallel to Mexico’s coastline.
But after that, where it will go is not exactly clear…
Over the next few days, he said, the storm is expected to drift parallel to Mexico’s coast. By 6 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, however, it is predicted to be near the southern tip of Baja California.
“Beyond that, we’ll have to see exactly where our forecast models want to take it,” Munyan said.
There are some models that have Hurricane Polo tracking way out into the Pacific.
But there are other models that have Hurricane Polo moving “toward California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas”…
Models show a handful of scenarios carrying Polo or its remnants toward California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas over the next seven to 10 days.
Southern California faces the earliest potential impacts, with large swells, dangerous rip currents and tropical humidity possible by the weekend even if Polo remains offshore.
Some model runs then carry the weakening remnants across northern Mexico into Arizona and New Mexico, with moisture potentially reaching western Texas later.
No hurricane has ever made landfall in the entire recorded history of the state of California.
If Hurricane Polo were to do so, it would truly be a historic event.
So we shall watch and see what happens.
On Monday, nobody was even talking about Polo.
But then it transformed from a weak tropical storm to a Category 5 monster in a 24 hour period…
Polo intensified from a 50-mph tropical storm on the morning of Monday, Sept. 21, to a 160-mph Category 5 hurricane in 24 hours, according to AccuWeather forecasters.
Conditions have to be just right for extreme rapid intensification to occur.
On Monday, Hurricane Polo benefitted from “low wind shear, humid air and deep, warm ocean water”, and that resulted in a level of intensification that was “truly remarkable”…
Extreme rapid intensification is a wind increase of 58 mph or more in 24 hours. Polo met that criteria and then some, with a wind increase of 110 mph, going from a 50 mph tropical storm to a 160 mph Category 5 from Monday to Tuesday morning.
This rate of rapid intensification is “truly remarkable,” the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday morning, and is among the fastest on record in the Eastern Pacific.
As it went through the process of rapid intensification, Hurricane Polo almost set a world record.
In fact, it came within 10 mph of matching the rapid intensification that Hurricane Patricia experienced in 2015…
Polo didn’t just pass the rapid intensification exam.
Its peak winds exploded by a whopping 110 mph in 24 hours.
That’s just 10 mph shy of the world record rapid intensification by wind speed, a 120 mph leap Hurricane Patricia made before it slammed into Mexico in late October 2015.
To me, it is very interesting that Hurricane Polo went through this process of extreme rapid intensification as millions of people around the world observed Yom Kippur.
Also on Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom suddenly declared a state of emergency…
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday morning that he is declaring a state of emergency ahead of what could be the strongest El Niño on record.
Newsom’s office issued a statement confirming that state resources are being mobilized before the potential winter storms and associated impacts.
“The emerging El Niño event is already breaking records, and forecasters expect it to continue to strengthen, potentially becoming the strongest in recorded history,” the statement reads in part. “Today’s emergency proclamation streamlines measures to help California prepare for this historic event.”
Did Newsom just figure out that this Super El Niño could be a problem?
Of course not.
So why was there such urgency to declare a state of emergency?
There is no imminent threat to the state from this Super El Niño other than Hurricane Polo.
But we are supposed to believe that this state of emergency doesn’t have anything to do with this storm.
Maybe that is true, but I am not buying it.
I think that Newsom and his minions realize that Hurricane Polo could potentially slam into their state.
If it does, the damage will be off the charts.
Of more immediate concern is the “massive nor’easter storm” that has started to pummel the east coast…
A massive nor’easter storm sweeping across the eastern US has set off flood warnings and dangerous wind alerts for millions across 13 states.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued coastal flood advisories in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia, with forecasters warning that areas along the Atlantic could see waves reach 12 feet in height.
Heavy downpours and wind gusts as powerful as a tropical storm are expected to make conditions potentially life-threatening from Michigan to Georgia, with the heaviest rain falling in parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina.
I could have easily done an entire article about this storm, because it is going to hit tens of millions of Americans really hard.
According to AccuWeather, extremely damaging coastal flooding is expected all the way through Friday…
AccuWeather added in a statement: ‘Coastal flooding, especially around high tide, is likely from North Carolina to Massachusetts from Tuesday through Friday.’
‘The threat may persist along the northern mid-Atlantic coast and expand into southeastern New England this weekend.’
In 2026, the U.S. has been hit by one major disaster after another.
But if a hurricane actually makes landfall in California, that will truly be a landmark event.
I don’t know if Hurricane Polo will be the storm to make history or not, but I will certainly be watching.
Marco’s fault.
It pours, man it pours!
In the 1950s and 60s we never heard of a storm off California. Only hurricanes in the Atlantic. Then a few mentions of storms off California but nothing like a hurricane. I figured since where we lived a hurricane was more likely to affect us.
Only 4.35 years left. Lucky guess.
And there is a cyclone (post-tropical) in the Atlantic
It almost like the USA takes up the bulk of an entire continent.
Maybe it can fill the reservoir.
Every weather forecast is fearcast. Highest winds, hottest temps, gloom despair and agony. Enough already. We need the weather changed. Taxes are not going to change it. Just report the weather without all the fear BS. If you listen to the weather doomers most people would never leave their homes.
What do we want?
Rain!
When do we want it?
Now!
Don’t tell me the “feels like” crap. Just report the weather. Most of the time we get rain that was never forecasted. Kind of random I guess, just like the weather guessers!
I would think it would be a "landfall" event.
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