Powerful storms batter Pacific as 2026 hurricane season intensifies
Hurricanes Polo and Nolo brought high winds, heavy rain and flooding to parts of Mexico and Hawaii as tropical cyclone activity remained unusually high across the northeastern and central Pacific, Qazinform News Agency reports, citing NASA Earth Observatory.
By September 28, the region had recorded 20 named storms, including nine hurricanes, compared with the 1991-2020 average of 13.5 named storms and 7.4 hurricanes by the same date. Accumulated cyclone energy in the Northeast Pacific was also more than twice the normal level, according to data from Colorado State University.
Hurricane Polo made landfall in Baja California Sur around 11 p.m. local time on September 28 before crossing the peninsula and the Gulf of California. It made a second landfall near Guaymas on September 29 as a further weakened system.
Polo had reached Category 5 strength on September 22 after rapidly intensifying over unusually warm ocean waters. It weakened before reaching the coast and likely made its first landfall as a Category 2 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm brought dangerous winds, storm surge and heavy rain capable of triggering flooding and mudslides in parts of Baja California Sur and Sonora. Its remnants, together with moisture from Post-Tropical Cyclone Odalys, were also expected to bring heavy rain and increase the risk of flooding across the southwestern United States and southern Plains.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Nolo, the third hurricane of the season to pass close to Hawaii, dropped more than 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain on parts of Maui and the Island of Hawaiʻi. The storm flooded roads, toppled trees and triggered landslides, although it did not make landfall.
NASA said El Niño conditions, including warm equatorial Pacific waters and low wind shear, can encourage tropical cyclones to develop and strengthen.
NASA’s Disasters Program, working with FEMA, is supporting Hawaii’s response to Hurricane Nolo and will provide maps and data products through its open-access mapping portal.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Hurricane Polo rapidly intensified to Category 5, the highest category, in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico’s coast.
