Tropical Storm Polo Forms in Eastern Pacific

It looks like the tropics may be trying to play the game ‘Marco Polo,’ as Tropical Storm Polo has formed in the eastern Pacific. Overnight, an area of low pressure 300 miles south of Acapulco, Mexico was able to strengthen into a tropical storm. Polo has maximum sustained winds of 40mph and is currently moving northwest at 12mph.

Tropical Storm Polo is expected to continue moving northwest and strengthen into a hurricane by later this week. By then, Polo will be following a similar path to Hurricane Odile and will weaken as it travels over an area of cooler ocean temperatures churned up by Odile. Even though this tropical storm is forecast to remain off shore, tropical storm watches are in effect in portions of southwest for the possibility of high winds.

Here is a map showing the probability of tropical storm force winds over the next several days. A tropical storm force wind is classified as a one-minute average wind speed of 39mph or higher. Notice this map also configures wind probabilities for Hurricane Odile currently over the Baja Peninsula.