RACHEL Near Hurricane Strength After Polo Slams Baja 🌀🎣

Hurricane Polo just tore across Baja California Sur and is now a weakening tropical storm inland over Sonora, heading toward southern New Mexico and far west Texas. That storm is fading. Right behind it, Tropical Storm Rachel is already spinning off southwest Mexico and the National Hurricane Center has her near hurricane strength this afternoon, with a forecast to become a major hurricane.

As of this afternoon, Rachel is near 16.0N, 105.7W — roughly 270 miles west-southwest of Lázaro Cárdenas and about 305 miles south of Cabo Corrientes — moving northwest around 12 mph with sustained winds near 70 mph. The official track keeps her core offshore of southwestern Mexico while she strengthens, then slows and meanders late week between the Revillagigedo Islands and the southern tip of Baja, roughly Friday into Saturday. That is not a Polo-style slam on the peninsula right now. It is a storm that could still throw heavy rain, big seas, and tropical-storm to possible hurricane conditions at the lower Baja waters if the track holds or nudges north.

Direct wind-and-rain impact on Southern California? Too early to say. The storm itself is not aimed at our coast on this forecast. What we can say is Polo already sent swell and moisture this way, and Rachel’s swell is expected to work north through the end of the week. Any extra Southern California beach or surf effect from Rachel is more of an early-next-week watch than a today story.

Now the fishing side, because that is why we care. A lot of fishermen believe these back-to-back tropical systems flush more warm water up the Baja Peninsula and into Southern California. El Niño 2026 has already given us some of the best local fishing in decades. If Rachel adds another pulse of warm water behind Polo, the exotic list stays wide open: blue marlin, dorado, yellowfin tuna, wahoo, sierra mackerel, even yellow-bellied sea snakes — and who knows what other surprises show up next.

Stay safe down the peninsula. Watch the National Hurricane Center updates. We will keep you posted as Rachel’s track firms up.

Check http://friedmanadventures.com for Captain’s audios, landing and boat counts, bait availability, Friedman Adventures AI, kids corner, and lots more.

And mark it — next Friedman Adventures Surf Fishing Festival is Saturday, October 24.

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