ATLANTIC & PACIFIC HURRICANE ACTIVITY & PREDICTIONS 2014
NASA's Aqua satellite flew over Polo September 18 at 2035 UTC
Tropical Storm Polo passing south of the Baja on Sept. 20 at 1930 UTC
How close to Baja California this time?
Personal Insights
Observations
Tropical Depression Seventeen-E just hours before becoming Tropical Storm Polo.
Image taken Sept. 15 at 2145 UTC
September 16 - 17 were two dates I was given regarding cyclones to come up the Pacific coast of the continent. Hurricane Odile made her mark over the Baja California peninsula and became a Post-tropical Depression on the 17th. In the meantime Tropical Storm Polo formed on the 16th and became a Category 1 Hurricane on the 17th. To quote a line from one of NASA's scientists, "Tropical Storm Polo is riding along the coast of western Mexico like horses in the game of his namesake". Once again, Odile is a female-named storm and Polo is a male-named storm so I wasn't concerned about him getting too strong. Also I wasn't anticipating him following directly in the steps of Odile; so no more California tracking.
That being said, since the insight mentioned coming up the Pacific coast, thoughts turned to what damage, if any, Polo may still do if riding in close to the coastal areas of Mexico.
After Odile, the next tropical disturbance to form in the eastern North Pacific was declared a storm by 0900 hrs UTC on September 16. Thus Tropical Storm Polo was born. Because Odile jsut passed over the California peninsula hours ago, it was a concern as to whether or not Polo may decide to head in that direction as well. The forecast was for him to veer to the west just before reaching that latitude. As a newly formed cyclone, Polo started off his journey moving WNW and then NW, bringing him closer to the Pacific coastline of Mexico.
On September 17 the outer bands of Polo brought rain to the southwestern portion of Mexico's coastal area. The system continued to move in a direction paralleling the coastline and by 2000 hrs PDT became a Category 1 Hurricane. The following morning Polo lost its hurricane status and continued on as a storm while moving closer to the Baja peninsula. On the 19th Polo stalls for a few hours before veering to the west at its closest approach, approximately 90 miles from the tip of the peninsula, thus avoiding further disaster upon the area.
Tropical Storm Polo traversed offshore the Pacific coastline but was still close enough to bring rain and wind and swells to some of the southern Mexican states. Shown above are some of the aftermaths.