Category 5 Hurricane Polo is an 'extremely dangerous' storm off the coast of Mexico

MIAMI — Hurricane Polo grew increasingly strong Tuesday and was forecast to gain more intensity as it skirted Mexico's southwestern coast as a Category 5 cyclone, weather experts said.

Polo was an "extremely dangerous" storm with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said in an advisory.

It was centered 205 miles south of Zihuatanejo, Mexico, and stationary over the Pacific Ocean at midday. The hurricane center said it would send an aircraft into the storm to investigate.

Mexican authorities temporarily suspended classes in a number of areas along the coast as Polo brushed along the coastline. Many residents of the region were on edge this week watching the rapidly intensifying hurricane plow by. In recent years, the Pacific coastal states of Guerrero and Oaxaca have been ravaged by powerful hurricanes walloping the coast, with a number of communities still picking up the pieces.

Heavy rain could produce flash flooding and mudslides. About 3 to 6 inches of rain was forecast for Guerrero and Michoacán states, with smaller amounts possible for coastal portions of Oaxaca, Colima and Jalisco states.

On the forecast track, Polo was expected to remain offshore. Tropical-storm-force winds and rough surf generated by Polo could also affect the coast.

Category 5 is the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson scale, reflecting that the storm's maximum sustained winds exceed 157 mph.

Tropical Storm Odalys was also in the Pacific Ocean but far from land. The cyclone was expected to become a hurricane sometime Tuesday, the hurricane center said. Odalys had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph.

In the Atlantic Ocean, Fay weakened to a tropical depression. Maximum sustained winds were down to 35 mph Tuesday and the system was far southwest of the Azores. Forecasters said it would be a remnant low later in the day.

No Atlantic hurricanes have formed yet this year, and this year has set a record for the longest a season has begun without a hurricane. The effects of this year's El Nino crush storms before they get going.

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