Hurricane Polo intensifies to ‘extremely dangerous’ Category 5 off Mexico coast

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Weather forecasters warned that Hurricane Polo intensified on Tuesday and could strengthen further as the Category 5 storm moves alongside the southwestern coast of Mexico.

An advisory from the Miami-based National Hurricane Center described Polo as an "extremely dangerous" system featuring maximum sustained winds reaching 165 mph (266 kph).

Positioned 205 miles (330 kilometers) south of Zihuatanejo, Mexico, the cyclone was creeping northward at 2 mph (3.2 kph). Meteorologists at the center planned to deploy a reconnaissance aircraft to gather further data from inside the storm.

As Polo edged past the shoreline, officials in Mexico halted school sessions across several Pacific coastal districts.

Local populations remained anxious given that states such as Guerrero and Oaxaca are still recovering from destructive storms in recent years.

Forecasters cautioned that intense precipitation could trigger mudslides and flash floods.

Between 3 and 6 inches (8 to 15 centimeters) of rainfall is expected in Michoacán and Guerrero, while smaller totals may fall across coastal sections of Jalisco, Colima, and Oaxaca.

Current projections indicate Polo will stay out at sea, though high waves and tropical-storm-force winds are likely to impact coastal regions.

Category 5 represents the highest rank on the Saffir-Simpson scale, applied when wind speeds top 157 mph (253 kph).

Elsewhere in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Odalys was tracking well away from land with sustained winds of 65 mph (105 kph), with the hurricane center predicting it would reach hurricane strength on Tuesday.

Over in the Atlantic basin, Fay degraded into a tropical depression far southwest of the Azores, seeing maximum winds drop to 35 mph (56 kph) on Tuesday before turning into a remnant low later in the day.

No Atlantic hurricanes have developed yet this year, marking a record for the longest period a season has gone without one. Atmospheric effects from this year's El Niño continue to crush storms before they can intensify.