Satellite imagery shows Hurricane Karina and Tropical Storm Lowell in the Pacific Ocean. (Credit: CSU/CIRA & NOAA via Storyful)
Just hours after reaching Category 1 status early Sunday morning, Hurricane Karina surged to become a Category 3 storm with sustained wind speeds reaching 125 mph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported.
Big picture view:
Now considered a major hurricane, Karina sits nearly 1,000 miles west-southwest of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula and is not posing an immediate threat to land. The storm’s trajectory currently has it tracking farther into the Pacific Ocean.
By the numbers:
On Sunday morning, Karina’s sustained winds reached the 80 mph threshold that divides tropical storms from hurricanes. By the end of the day, the cyclone’s winds were well past the 111 mph speeds that define a Category 3 storm, and meteorologists have indicated that Karina could still get stronger.
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Why you should care:
Even with Karina so far from shore, meteorologists at the hurricane center cautioned that the storm could still cause swells that create dangerous surf and rip currents along the coast of southwest Mexico and the Baja California Peninsula. As of Sunday evening, no coastal watches or warnings related to the cyclone were in effect.
What's next:
Another tropical storm sits just under 1,000 miles east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii. On Sunday evening, the hurricane center was reporting that the cyclone, which has been named Lowell, had 50 mph winds and did not appear to be a threat to land at this time. Wind speeds could still increase to the point that Lowell becomes a hurricane on Monday or Tuesday.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from The Associated Press. This story was reported from Orlando.