Hurricane Polo remnants could bring rain to New Mexico
Moisture from the powerful Pacific storm could fuel showers and thunderstorms statewide beginning Sunday, with Balloon Fiesta weather in focus
Warning areas and potential impact
Hurricane Polo is approaching Mexico’s West Coast with fierce intensity, and from nearly 1,000 miles away, a lot of us find ourselves watching it.
Not because it is coming to New Mexico. It isn’t. Polo has become the kind of storm that gets weather forecasters around the country talking.
It exploded into a monster storm this week, reaching Category 5 strength with winds of 180 mph before weakening and strengthening again.
As of Saturday, Polo was still a Category 5 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph.
The good news: It is not coming to New Mexico. Not with hurricane-force winds or Polo’s eye crossing the state.
We will feel it the way New Mexico often feels tropical systems: through their moisture.
The National Weather Service in Albuquerque is watching Polo because the hurricane, working with an approaching upper-level trough, is helping pull more monsoonal moisture northward into Arizona and New Mexico.
