Elida, a Category 1 strong hurricane with winds up to 90 mph, is forecast to stay out in the eastern Pacific. It will not directly affect land, but hurricane hazards extend far beyond the center of the storm.
Swells generated by Elida are expected to cause life-threatening surf and rip currents along the west-central Mexican coast and the southern Baja California Peninsula.
Offshore swells up to 25 feet will also be a danger to sailors.
“Although Elida is a hurricane, it will likely track and die to the northwest over colder water,” CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said.
Although Elida is expected to start weakening sometime on Wednesday, more developments are expected in the pipeline.
“The tropics of the eastern Pacific off the coast of Mexico appear to be very active,” Myers said. “The computer models predict two more tropical storms behind this.”
The earliest ‘J’ storm could form later this week
A tropical wave in the Atlantic Ocean is expected to develop into Tropical Storm Josephine in the next few days.
The system has a 90% chance of becoming a tropical depression or tropical storm in the next 48 hours, according to the National Hurricane Center. If it were to become a tropical storm, it would be the earliest storm to record to begin with a “J.” The previous record was set on August 22, 2005.
This would continue with the record-setting pace of this hurricane season, which set previous records during the infamous 2005 season. That season saw 28 named storms, of which 15 were hurricanes.
The tropical wave lies 900 miles west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands and moved Tuesday to the northwest.
Computer models suggest it will move north of the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico this weekend, like a tropical storm.
Whether it will affect the mainland United States remains uncertain, but the National Hurricane Center monitors it closely.
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