One of the strongest storms ever seen in the Pacific is currently sitting off the coast of Mexico and is expected to make landfall soon. It’s called hurricane Polo.
Hurricane Polo, which reached Category 5 strength Tuesday, weakened to a Category 4 storm Wednesday morning but remained one of the most powerful Pacific cyclones in decades, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 150 mph Wednesday morning as it moved slowly north, roughly 165 miles south of Zihuatanejo, Mexico…
“This is one of the strongest storms ever in the (Pacific) Basin,” Kristen L. Corbosiero, a professor of atmospheric and environmental sciences at the University at Albany, told the AP.
Here’s video from the eye of the storm.
Unbelievable footage from NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters inside the eye of Hurricane Polo.
Simply incredible. pic.twitter.com/Inb1Njb5HS
— Nahel Belgherze (@WxNB_) September 24, 2026
Polo won’t hit California directly, but it’s big enough that it could create another round of high surf and beach erosion in southern California. Here’s a video showing what it’s expected to do.
After meandering near southwest Mexico as a monster category 5 hurricane, #Polo is now on a steady northwest track away from the coast.
This weekend, it will take a turn north before hitting Baja California early next week as a category 1. pic.twitter.com/QfxzerrpRN
— Collin Gross (@CollinGrossWx) September 24, 2026
Landfall in Baja, Mexico is expected Sunday night. Between now and then there could be a lot of rough weather along the U.S. coast.
The coastline has already endured a summer of powerful swells, with storms washing away sand, damaging waterfront homes and prompting local emergency declarations in several communities.
Now forecasters are warning that another round of elevated surf early next week, combined with high tides, could raise the risk of additional flooding and erosion.
Most readers probably haven’t seen the local news reports that have been running non-stop here in SoCal. But we’ve had huge surf that has led to a number of drownings of unsuspecting people. Some homes have also fallen into the ocean and major stretches of beach had to be closed because all of the sand had washed away.
In Long Beach, there were waves breaking onto the roofs of houses along the beach front.
Waves crashing above rooftops in Long Beach from historic swell smashing the Alamitos Peninsula. Residents have evacuated along the boardwalk. #CA #LongBeach #Flood #Waves pic.twitter.com/q4qj2deTOJ
— Jonathan Petramala (@jpetramala) September 8, 2026
There were also stories circulating among people I know who spend a lot of time in the ocean that whale sharks and giant manta rays had been spotted off the coast. Someone spotted a rare, poisonous sea snake coming out of the water in Newport Beach not far from me. These are usually found much further south in Mexico where it’s warmer but the previous hurricane brought it up here.
All of this is a serious expense for some homeowners and for cities who have to try to build sand berms along the beach to prevent flooding. Plus there are always people at the beach and in water this rough some of them won’t make it back to shore.
Of course there are some people who think it’s great. You couldn’t pay me any amount of money to go out in this.
Gov. Newsom declared an emergency earlier this week to free up money for whatever comes next.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday declared a state of emergency for California to mobilize resources ahead of a potentially historic super El Niño storm season this winter…
…this year’s El Niño comes at the peak of an 18-year high-tide cycle — a natural, astronomical event that will make King Tides even higher than they otherwise would be, according to Patrick Barnard, research director at the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience at the University of California, Santa Cruz…
According to Barnard, the expected increase in coastal water levels during this El Niño — from six inches to a foot — would threaten an additional 170,000 people and an additional $60 billion in property, compared to a non-Super El Niño year.
The best thing you can say at this point is that it’s better than wildfires.
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy HotAir’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical Left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join HotAir VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Discussion about this post