Sunday, May 29, 2022 10:25 PM

Agatha is nearing major hurricane status in the eastern Pacific

Christopher Nunley

Agatha became the first-named system in the eastern Pacific of the 2022 season on Saturday and since then has exploded in intensity, especially over the past 12 hours. Agatha was merely a tropical storm this morning and now is a borderline major hurricane.

Maximum sustained winds have increased to 110 mph (category 2) as of Sunday afternoon, just 1 mph shy of a major category 3 hurricane.

The hurricane is expected to make landfall Monday afternoon or evening in southern Mexico potentially as a major hurricane. The tropical cyclone will rapidly weaken over the higher terrain of southern Mexico by Tuesday.

Some of the energy from this system could reemerge over the Bay of Campeche or the western Caribbean late this week. This will be monitored closely over the coming days.

Only 5 hurricanes have ever achieved major status in the month of May in the eastern Pacific.