Polo makes second Mexican landfall near Guaymas

Hurricane Polo reached category 5 strength off Mexico’s Pacific coast by 22 September 2026 after its maximum sustained winds increased by 167km/h (104mph) in just 24 hours, NASA Earth Observatory reports. The storm had become a tropical depression on 20 September and a tropical storm the next day. [1]

NASA said researchers estimated winds of nearly 285km/h (180mph) during a NOAA Hurricane Hunter flight on 22 September. That figure is an estimate; the underlying aircraft observations were not separately verified for this report.

By the afternoon of 23 September, Polo had weakened to category 4. NASA’s Aqua satellite captured an image of the hurricane southwest of Acapulco, off the coast of Guerrero. NASA reported maximum sustained winds of 230km/h (145mph) at that time, following an eyewall replacement cycle that had weakened the storm. Those figures describe its strength on 23 September, not its current status. [1]

Conditions favoured rapid strengthening

Gary Partyka, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, described conditions as almost ideal for strengthening: weak wind shear, abundant moisture, warm ocean water and high atmospheric instability. NASA reported that Polo passed over areas where sea surface temperatures reached 32°C. [1]

Warm water below the surface likely helped sustain the hurricane, according to Kristen Corbosiero, an atmospheric scientist at the State University of New York at Albany. NASA said measurements and models indicated high ocean heat content at depth, although its account supplied no numerical values or depths.

Both scientists cautioned against directly attributing Polo’s rapid intensification to El Niño’s unusually warm surface waters. Corbosiero noted that hurricanes in the region have also intensified rapidly during La Niña and neutral conditions. That caution does not rule out an El Niño influence, but limits a single-factor explanation. [1]

NASA’s 25 September report said forecasters expected Polo to remain over the Pacific until the following week, when it might turn north-east and approach Baja California. That was a forecast, not a confirmed landfall prediction; the available material does not establish its subsequent track or impacts.