Overview
- Karina, which strengthened to Category 4 on Monday, had sustained winds near 230–233 km/h, gusts around 280 km/h, a minimum pressure near 942 hPa, and a center about 1,640 km west‑southwest of Cabo San Lucas.
- Official forecasts from the NHC and Mexico's SMN project Karina will track west to west‑northwest over open water and slowly weaken from major‑hurricane strength over the next several days.
- Authorities warn that Karina will generate large swell and life‑threatening rip currents that can reach the Baja California peninsula, parts of Mexico’s southwest coast, and possibly southern California, and port and beach restrictions have been advised.
- A second system, Tropical Storm Marie, formed on Tuesday and is expected to become a hurricane that will bring heavy rain to Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima and Michoacán while Tropical Storm Lowell continues near Hawaiʻi.
- Meteorologists say Karina’s explosive intensification was driven by unusually warm sea‑surface temperatures linked to El Niño, a pattern that has increased Pacific cyclone activity this season and raises ongoing coastal risk across the region.