Tropical Storm Jimena Rapidly Strengthening in the Eastern Pacific; Likely to Become a Hurric

August 27,2015

Highlights

• Tropical Storm Jimena was named early Thursday and is located nearly 1,000 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California.
• Jimena is forecast to strengthen and could become a major hurricane this weekend.
• For now, this system is no threat to land the next five days as it tracks westward behind Ignacio.
• It's far too early to know if this system may eventually become a threat to Hawaii. Check back for updates.

Current Status

Forecast Track

Tropical Storm Jimena is moving through a highly favorable environment for tropical cyclones in the eastern Pacific. Although the system poses no threat to land over the next five days, steady intensification is in the forecast.
(MAP: Follow Tropical Storm Jimena with our new Interactive Storm Tracker)
The sea-surface temperatures ahead of Jimena are very warm, ripe for tropical cyclone development. At the same time, the atmosphere is very moist and combine this factor with weak wind shear, and Jimena should be able to become a hurricane within the next 24 hours.
Jimena continues to organize with time as convective bands were noted to be tightly wound around the center of circulation Thursday night. This further indicates that Jimena is on the verge of reaching hurricane status.
With no apparent obstacles in the path of this storm, there is no reason to believe that it will do anything but strengthen in the coming days. In fact, some of the computer forecast models show this storm becoming an intense hurricane in the coming days. The National Hurricane Center official forecast brings Jimena to major hurricane status (Category 3) this weekend.
Jimena poses no threat for land for quite some time, however, we can't completely rule out an eventual run toward the Hawaiian Islands somewhere around the Labor Day holiday weekend.
(MORE: How Unusual Are Hurricanes in Hawaii?)
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