Hurricane Simon forecast to get much stronger as it heads to Mexico's Pacific Coast

Hurricane Simon was headed toward part of Mexico's Pacific Coast on Friday and forecast to get much stronger, leading to hurricane-force winds and torrential rains that could cause flooding and mudslides.

Hurricane-force winds expected within 36 hours; torrential rains could lead to flooding, mudslides

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Oct 09, 2026 7:36 AM EDT | Last Updated: 23 minutes ago

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Hurricane Simon was headed toward part of Mexico's Pacific coast on Friday and forecast to get much stronger.

U.S. forecasters issued a hurricane warning for parts of the central and southwest coast, where hurricane-force winds were expected within 36 hours.

Simon had maximum sustained winds of 120 km/h early Friday and was moving northwest at seven km/h, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The Category 1 hurricane was forecast to turn to the north by early Saturday and approach the coast. Simon was expected to intensify rapidly and become a Category 4 storm before landfall. Category 4 hurricanes on the Saffir-Simpson scale have maximum sustained winds of 210 to 250 km/h.

Simon was centered about 355 kilometres south of Manzanillo and 525 kilometres south-southeast of Cabo Corrientes.

Tropical storm conditions were possible along the coast later Friday.

Simon was expected to produce torrential rainfall that could cause flooding and mudslides. U.S. forecasters said 20 to 38 centimetres of rain could fall in southwestern Mexico, with isolated areas getting up to 63 centimetres.

Updates on Tropical Storm Rachel, Hurricane Isaias

Farther north, Tropical Storm Rachel was expected to reach Baja California, northwestern Mexico and Southern California this weekend. It had 95 km/h winds and was forecast to weaken, though it may bring heavy rain to the area.

Tropical storm activity has been above average this season in the Pacific, due to the effects of a strong El Niño.

• It's almost the end of September. Where are all the hurricanes?

The climate phenomenon typically depresses storm activity in the Atlantic. Hurricane Isaias, which was expected to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast late Friday or Saturday, developed more than four months into the Atlantic hurricane season.