Kay Intensifies to Category 2 Hurricane in the Mexican Pacific

On Wednesday, Mexico's National Meteorological Service (SMN) announced that Hurricane Kay has intensified to category 2 near the Mexican Pacific coast, where it will cause torrential rains.

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The cyclone is 370 kilometers southwest of Cabo San Lucas in Baja California Sur, one of the main tourist sites in Mexico, and 670 kilometers west of Cabo Corrientes in Jalisco, with a displacement of 19 kilometers per hour to the north-northwest.

The hurricane presented maximum sustained winds of 155 kilometers per hour and gusts of 195 kilometers per hour, according to the agency of the National Water Commission (Conagua).

In the next few hours, the SMN predicts that Kay's cloud bands will cause "torrential" rains (150-250 mm) in areas of Baja California Sur, "very heavy" rains (50-75 mm) in Sinaloa, and "strong" rains " (25-50 mm) in Baja California and Sonora.

It also forecast wind gusts of 120 to 150 kilometers per hour in Baja California Sur; from 80 to 100 kilometers per hour in Baja California, the Gulf of California and the coasts of Sinaloa and Sonora, and from 60 to 80 kilometers per hour in the coasts of Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit.

Given that Kay could reach category 3 on Wednesday, the Mexican government is prepared to enable over 4,240 temporary shelters. This cyclone is the twelfth named storm to form in Mexican waters during 2022, after Agatha, Blas, Celia, Bonnie, Darby, Estelle, Frank, Georgette, Howard, Ivette, and Javier.

In mid-May, meteorologists predicted the formation of up to 40 named cyclones in 2022, adding that at least five tropical cyclones would impact the Mexican Atlantic or Pacific coasts.