Hurricane Bud strengthened into the second hurricane of the 2018 Eastern Pacific hurricane season and could be the first hurricane to directly impact the U.S. this year.
Located off the southwest coast of Mexico, forecasters observed Bud strengthen on Sunday. It was a Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale with sustained winds of 80 miles per hour as of the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center.
Weather models project Bud to strengthen over warm waters into at least Category 2 storm and head towards the Mexico’s southern Baja California Peninsula over the next several days.
In some areas of the southwestern Mexican coast, rainfall is expected to reach as high as several inches — 10 inches in some isolated areas — leading to possible life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides.
A #hurricane is not a point. Gusty winds and heavy rain can occur in rain bands far away from the eye. #Bud could produce 3 to 6 inches of rain with isolated higher amounts while it passes to the west of southwestern Mexico during the next couple of days. pic.twitter.com/oQSnNE2vWD
— NHC E. Pacific Ops (@NHC_Pacific) June 10, 2018
Should the storm continue on its projected trajectory, some forecasters say the remnants of the system could bring rainfall to areas of the southwestern United States, which have been experience drought conditions. Accuweather reported that flash flooding is possible if it rains too much in a short period of time.
Bud is following the early track of Hurricane Aletta, the first hurricane of the of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season, which rapidly strengthened into a Category 4 storm, but peeled away from Mexico and the U.S. out into the Pacific Ocean where it is now weakening.
Meanwhile, there has yet to be any named storms in the Atlantic Ocean this year, where the U.S. and Caribbean were pummeled by a series of powerful storms last hurricane season. However, that could soon change. “A tropical low is expected to develop north of the Nicaraguan coast around midweek,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Brett Rossio in a report published Sunday.
