Senior Writer
Staff

The famed point of Scorpion Bay is right in the path of Hurricane Polo. Photo: Scorpion Bay Hotel//Facebook


The Inertia

Baja Californians are bracing for Hurricane Polo, which is expected to hit the coast early Tuesday at or near hurricane strength. Models are currently predicting that it will strike south of the town of San Juanico, home to the famous right-hand points of Scorpion Bay. However, a direct strike on the surf town is still within the realm of possibility.

The storm, currently Category 3 with 115 mph sustained winds, is spinning 80 miles off the coast. It’s expected to weaken as it approaches the coast, but will come with powerful winds and storm surge. The National Hurricane Center says as much as six to 12 inches of rain will fall in parts of Baja California. Landfall is expected in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

“Polo is forecast to be near major hurricane strength when it reaches Baja California Sur this evening, and is expected to be a hurricane when it makes landfall in mainland Mexico early Tuesday morning,” the National Hurricane Center said. “Rapid weakening is expected after Polo moves farther inland into mainland Mexico.”

Polo briefly entered the Southern California swell window, but just barely and not for long enough to create a major hurricane swell event. However, Southern California breaks that can receive a steep south-southeast swell will see a building Polo swell on Monday.

“Highly selective SSE swell builds for South OC,” Surfline wrote. “Pulsey swell with good size (head high-overhead) at select spots.”

 
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