A potentially devastating hurricane has formed in the Pacific and is heading toward Mexico. As of 2 p.m. ET Monday, Hurricane John was rapidly intensifying about 105 miles south of Punta Maldonado, which is located on Mexico's southern coast near the borders of Guerrero and Oaxaca in the southeast About 80 miles away. John is traveling north at 3 mph (4.8 km/h).
John had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (113 km/h) on Monday morning, and just 12 hours later it was still officially considered a tropical depression, with winds of 30 mph (48 km/h). The storm has met the definition of rapid intensification. Weather conditions are near ideal with the potential for rapid intensification, possibly leading to landfall on Tuesday.
The sea surface temperature near John is 30-31 degrees Celsius (86-88°F); wind shear is light, slowing the speed to about five knots; John is in a humid atmosphere, with a moderate relative humidity of about 70%. Since John is close to the coast and in shallow water, the ocean heat beneath John's footprint will be fairly limited, but given that overall conditions are extremely favorable, this will be little of an obstacle to John. John is expected to continue moving slowly northeastward, making landfall along the west coast of Oaxaca on Tuesday afternoon or evening.
There are ominous precedents for extremely rapid intensification off the coast of Mexico, including Hurricane Patricia (2015) and Hurricane Otis (2023). Patricia upgraded from a tropical storm to a Category 5 storm within 24 hours, achieved some of the strongest sustained winds the world has ever seen from a tropical cyclone (estimated at 215 mph), weakened before making landfall, and struck sparsely populated areas . Otis went from an official tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane even faster than Patricia – in just 12 hours – and caused catastrophic damage to Acapulco as it neared its peak intensity It struck, replacing Patricia as the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. Pacific and Pacific region.
There are no major cities in John's path, but its rapid intensification and slow movement could result in really dangerous rainfall totals – localized rainfall totals of more than 30 inches (760 mm) and widespread totals of 10-20 inches (250 mm). -500 mm). A large storm surge is possible east of where John made landfall.
