Tropical Storm Celia continues to intensify and could become a hurricane

Conagua reported that tropical storm Celia is located 375 kilometers southwest of Michoacán and 380 kilometers southwest of Manzanillo, Colima.

Tropical Storm Celia continues to intensify and could become a hurricane
Conagua forecasts that tropical storm Celia could become a hurricane on June 25. Photo by JOHN TOWNER / Unsplash

The National Water Commission (Conagua) announced this Thursday, June 23, that at 10:00 a.m. tropical storm Celia continues to intensify and was located approximately 375 kilometers southwest of Punta San Telmo, Michoacán, and 380 kilometers south-southwest of Manzanillo, Colima. Tropical Storm Celia moved northwest at 20 kilometers per hour, with maximum sustained winds of 85 kilometers per hour and gusts of 100 kilometers per hour.

Rains due to Tropical Storm Celia

It was announced that Celia's extensive cloud bands, in interaction with a low-pressure channel and low wave number 6, will cause heavy rains in Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit; hefty rains in areas of Durango, Guerrero, Michoacán, and Sinaloa, and heavy rains in some regions of Oaxaca.

According to their forecasts, tropical storm Celia is expected to become a category 1 hurricane on the morning of Saturday, June 25.

Conagua informed that the rains could bring electric discharges, strong winds, and possible hailstorms, in addition to the probability of rain in the center of the country. In addition, wind gusts of 60 to 70 kilometers per hour and swells of 2 to 4 meters high are expected on the coasts of Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco, and Michoacán.

How many hurricanes are forecast for the Pacific and Atlantic?

In the Pacific, between 8 and 10 tropical storms are expected, between 4 and 5 category 1 and 2 hurricanes, and between 2 and 4 categories 3, 4, and 5 hurricanes, according to Conagua's official forecast. Meanwhile, in the Atlantic, there will be between 10 and 11 tropical storms, between 4 and 6 hurricanes categories 1 and 2, and between 2 and 4 hurricanes categories 3, 4, and 5.

Authorities detailed that the states that suffer the most in each hurricane season are Baja California Sur, Veracruz, Quintana Roo, and Sinaloa.

It is foreseen that the phenomenon known as La Niña will cause the weather effects to show abnormal behavior during this year; it is expected that the states of the Pacific Ocean, that is, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Baja California Sur, Guerrero, and Oaxaca, will be the ones to be affected.