Hurricane Rachel Swirling in the Eastern Pacific

September 27,2014


 
Hurricane Rachel is swirling about 450 miles west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. It is moving towards the north-northwest at about 10 mph.
Wind shear, or changing wind direction and/or speed with height, has diminished slightly, and this has allowed Rachel to strengthen to hurricane status.
By Sunday, however, the system will track over cooler waters as well as move into a region of more stable air and stronger wind shear; this will induce a weakening trend later in the weekend into early next week.
Rachel is forecast to turn more north-northwest and slow down by early next week. After that time, Rachel will turn to the southwest as it continues to weaken.
Rachel will stay well to the west of the Baja California peninsula, and therefore poses no threat to land.
Tropical Storm Rachel became the 17th named storm of the 2014 Eastern Pacific hurricane season September 24. On September 27, Rachel strengthened into a hurricane.
This is now the third busiest eastern Pacific hurricane season on record, as measured by the number of season-to-date named storms, according to The Weather Channel hurricane specialist Michael Lowry. Only 1992 (19 storms) and 1985 (20 storms) were busier, says Lowry.
Here's the latest information on this storm.

Projected Path

The latest forecast path and wind speeds from the National Hurricane Center.

Current Information

So, where exactly is the cyclone's center located now? If you're plotting the storm along with us, the information depicted in the map above provides the latitude/longitude coordinates, distance away from the nearest land location, maximum sustained winds and central pressure (measured in millibars).

Infrared Satellite

This infrared satellite image shows how cold (and therefore how high) the cloud tops are. Brighter orange and red shadings concentrated near the center of circulation signify a healthy tropical cyclone.

Visible Satellite

This visible satellite image shows clouds as they would appear to the naked eye from outer space. As a result, this image will not show any data during local nighttime hours in the affected area.

MORE: Hurricanes From Space