More often than not hurricanes formed in the eastern Pacific do not capture the attention of the United States considering they rarely reach its land. However, when the eastern Pacific hurricane season started on May 15 there was already a storm in sight. Hurricane Amanda set sinister records reaching wind speeds up to 155 miles per hour almost securing a Category 5 title.
This record is attracting so much attention for two reasons. Primarily because records were just made in the year 2000 and they are already being surpassed. Secondly, because of the El Niño rumors. El Niño conditions, a rare series of climactic changes affecting the equatorial Pacific region, are predicted to form by this summer. The years that El Niño has occurred record evidence that there is a lot of hurricane activity in the eastern Pacific region and fewer storms formed in the Atlantic.
If in fact El Niño does occur there are possibilities of stronger storms forming considering the hurricane season has just begun. El Niño storms customarily only hit Mexico; however, there was a case in the past where a hurricane created by El Nñio conditions traveled all the way to Southern California. Currently, Hurricane Amanda has weakened and is no longer posing a severe threat to Mexico or any other land. Even so, Hurricane Amanda’s early record breaking winds will be remembered long from now.
