Hurricane Polo — once an extremely powerful Category 5 storm — continued to lurk off Mexico's southwestern coast early Wednesday but was only expected to skirt the shoreline, not make landfall.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Polo's maximum sustained winds — which had been 165 mph — decreased somewhat to 155 mph, barely beneath the 157 mph threshold that would make it a Category 5, the strongest hurricane possible.
The storm is expected to fluctuate in intensity over the next few days, forecasters said, but remain a "very powerful major hurricane."
Polo intensified rapidly on Tuesday, the Miami-based hurricane center said, as it grew into the Category 5 storm capable of bringing life-threatening flooding to parts of the states of Guerrero and Michoacán.
The center called Polo "extremely dangerous" as its maximum sustained winds climbed to 165 mph.
When Polo's top sustained winds were still that strong, The Associated Press quoted Kristen L. Corbosiero, professor at the University at Albany's Department of Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences, as calling Polo "one of the strongest storms ever in the (Pacific) Basin."
As of early Wednesday, Polo was located off the coast of Zihuatanejo, a coastal resort city in the Mexican state of Guerrero, and Manzanillo, another coastal city and resort destination in the state of Colima. It hurled hurricane-force winds outward up to 40 miles from its center and tropical storm-force winds some 105 miles out, but was roughly stationary, crawling northward at 2 mph.
Polo's outer rainbands were starting to reach the coast, the hurricane center said.
Hurricane Polo's expected path along the coast of southwestern Mexico.
CBS News
Polo was forecast to bring tropical storm conditions to parts of the coastline starting Wednesday. In some areas, heavy rainfall "may produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain," the hurricane center warned.
The storm remains far south of Mexico's Baja California peninsula.
The Mexican government issued a tropical storm warning for a stretch of the Mexican coast from Tecpan de Galeana, in Guerrero, to Punta San Telmo, in Michoacán. A tropical storm watch was in effect from Punta San Telmo to Playa Perula, in the state of Jalisco. Tropical storm warnings are issued when forecasts indicate tropical storm conditions will develop in a particular area, while tropical storm watches are issued when those conditions are possible, but not imminent.
In this case, the hurricane center said people under a tropical storm warning should expect those conditions to take shape on Wednesday. For those in the watch area, such conditions could develop by Thursday.
Parts of Guerrero and Michoacán may receive between 3 and 6 inches of rainfall as Polo barrels past, with up to 8 inches possible in certain spots, through Thursday. Between 2 and 4 inches of rain could also fall in coastal parts of the states of Oaxaca, Colima and Jalisco through Thursday, forecasters said.
Along with rain, Polo was also expected to cause life-threatening surf conditions, including rip currents, along the southwestern Mexican coast.
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