Hurricane Polo, rapidly intensifying from strong El Niño patterns, rages off coast of Mexico

Hurricane Polo over the Pacific Ocean near Mexico on 21 September 2026. Photograph: Noaa/AFP/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenHurricane Polo over the Pacific Ocean near Mexico on 21 September 2026.

Fotografia: Noaa/AFP/Getty Images Furacões Furacão Polo, intensificando rapidamente a partir de fortes padrões de El Niño, está furando a costa do México. Polo, com ventos sustentados de 165 mph, está agitando 215 milhas ao sul de Zihuatanejo, mas é improvável que atinja diretamente o México.

Prefira o Guardian no Google Uma tempestade tropical na costa sudoeste do México intensificou-se em um monstro de categoria 5 em menos de 24 horas, alimentada por padrões climáticos El Niño mais fortes do que o habitual no Oceano Pacífico.

Hurricane Polo was sending out maximum sustained winds of 165mph (266km/h) on Tuesday as its center churned about 215 miles (346km) south of the coastal city of Zihuatanejo, in Guerrero state.

Na segunda-feira, Polo era apenas uma tempestade tropical com ventos abaixo de 74 mph (120 km/h). Seu crescimento rápido e súbito é testemunho da dominação do chamado super El Niño deste ano, que estabeleceu um recorde na segunda-feira como o mais extremo já registrado, e tem amplificado uma série de eventos climáticos extremos em todo o mundo.

Read moreForecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Mexico was likely to avoid a direct hit, but warned that further intensification was likely, and that life-threatening flooding and mudslides were possible inland, along with dangerous surf and rip current conditions.

Meteorologists say the phenomenon increases disruptive winds and curtails other conditions favorable to storm development in the Atlantic basin, which remains quiet with less than three months to go in this year’s hurricane season.

Conversely, it promotes increased activity in the Pacific, where the 2026 El Niño remains one of the strongest on record.

Hurricane Polo’s single-day intensification also fits into the assessment of University of Miami senior research associate Brian McNoldy on his tropical Atlantic blog that El Niño, which he said was only “moderate” towards the beginning of September, was “forecast to become very strong, likely the strongest on record, by later this fall and into winter”.

Polo is the 18th named storm, and seventh hurricane, of the 2026 Pacific season, which runs from 15 May until 30 November.

Em contraste, a bacia atlântica, que tem uma temporada de seis meses de junho até novembro, registrou apenas seis tempestades tropicais nomeadas e nenhum furacão até agora.

It is the first time in 112 years that no Atlantic hurricanes have formed by 21 September, and 2026 could join 1907 and 1914 as the only years without one being recorded.

Em números

• Hurricane Polo was sending out maximum sustained winds of 165mph (266km/h) on Tuesday as its center churned about 215 mil
• Na segunda-feira, Polo era apenas uma tempestade tropical com ventos abaixo de 74 mph (120 km/h)