Category 3 storm off Mexico

Hurricane Trudy strengthened early on Friday, 16 October, into a Category 3 storm off Mexico's Pacific coast, according to the US National Hurricane Center in Miami. Maximum sustained winds reached 195 km/h (120 mph) and the storm was moving northwest at 9 km/h (6 mph). Its center lay about 420 km (260 miles) southwest of Acapulco and roughly 590 km (365 miles) south-southeast of Manzanillo. Further strengthening is expected in the coming days. The storm's eye is expected to draw near the southwestern and west-central Mexican shoreline on Saturday, 17 October.

Rapid strengthening

Mexico's National Meteorological Service (SMN) reported on Thursday, 15 October, that Trudy had reached Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. At 21:00 local time that evening, the system was 375 km southwest of Acapulco and 405 km south of Lázaro Cárdenas in Michoacán, with sustained winds of 165 km/h and gusts of 205 km/h. The SMN said the storm was intensifying quickly and expected heavy rain in Guerrero, Oaxaca and Michoacán. Trudy had taken shape as a tropical storm southwest of Mexico on Tuesday, 13 October. The New York Times counted it as the 21st named storm to form in the central and eastern Pacific this year, and noted that it could reach Category 4 strength, with the question of landfall still open on Thursday.

A busy Pacific season

If Trudy reaches Category 3 as forecasters expect, it would be the tenth hurricane of that strength in the Pacific this year, the New York Times reported. A typical season produces about four or five such storms, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Pacific record stands at 11, set in 2015, a year that also had a strong El Niño, according to Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University. El Niño tends to warm the eastern Pacific and feed more cyclones there, while the Atlantic is usually quieter. Mexico's forecast for 2026 calls for 18 to 21 named storms in the Pacific, of which four or five could become hurricanes of Category 3 or stronger.

Floods from earlier storms

Tropical Storm Simon, a Category 1 storm that gathered strength on Tuesday evening, 13 October, to near Category 3 level, is now forecast to weaken into a remnant low. Its downpours reached Nayarit and Sinaloa, where officials kept emergency services on alert for overflowing rivers, and one death was reported in Guerrero over the weekend. Rain, rising water and landslides tied to Simon and the remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel killed at least six people along Mexico's Pacific coast, authorities confirmed. The most severe damage was in Ensenada, Baja California, where floodwaters linked to Rachel's leftovers claimed five lives. The state prosecutor's office told AP the dead include a 13-year-old girl, two women aged 30 and 35 and a four-year-old boy, while a fifth person found near a stream on Tuesday remains unidentified. Five people were still missing on Wednesday, 14 October, including three in Ensenada and a father and son who left San Felipe on Saturday, 10 October, for a fishing trip on the Gulf of California. Around 300 rescuers, police officers and soldiers combed the El Pipila stream on Tuesday, and the Mexican Navy searched for the missing fishermen.

Elsewhere in the Pacific

Tropical Storm Champi was east of Guam on Friday, 16 October, moving west-northwest at 12 mph with maximum sustained winds rising to 52 mph, according to the US Weather Service and the US Navy's Meteorology and Oceanography Command. A typhoon warning covers Guam and Rota, and a tropical storm warning is in place for Tinian, Saipan and nearby areas.