AccuWeather.com reports that Hurricane Marie rapidly intensified into a Category 5 hurricane on Sunday and became the strongest tropical system in years in the eastern Pacific.
Upon reaching Category 5 status, Marie became the strongest hurricane over the eastern Pacific since Hurricane Celia in 2010, according to AccuWeather.com. During Saturday morning, local time, Marie intensified into a Category 1 hurricane. By Sunday afternoon, Marie had undergone explosive intensification to become a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph.
Since then, the hurricane intensity slipped slightly a powerful Category 4 with sustained winds of 150 mph.While the hurricane will not have any direct impacts on Mexico or the United States, indirect impacts will be significant. Marie is expected to gradually weaken over cooler waters this week, but will send large waves outward from its center.
Hurricane Marie will cause very rough and dangerous surf to spread northward along the beaches of Mexico and Southern California this week. While the impact on the surf from Lowell and Karina were diminishing over Southern California to start the week, a new series of swells will build Tuesday into Thursday over the region. The circulation around Marie will draw moisture into part of the Southwest United States and northwestern Mexico.
"Marie is a very large hurricane, and as its moisture gets drawn to the northeast into the region, very heavy rainfall is possible, along with localized flooding," said AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Anthony Sagliani in a written statement.
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