Hurricane Rachel

Hurricane — Category 2 Rachel is packing 85-kt (100-mph) winds, moving WNW at 4 kt (5 mph). Expected to stay over open water.

At 200 AM MST (0900 UTC), the center of Hurricane Rachel was located near latitude 20.2 North, longitude 113.2 West. Rachel is moving toward the west-northwest near 5 mph (7 km/h). A turn toward the west is expected later today, and a westward motion with some increase in forward speed is expected through Tuesday. Maximum sustained winds are now near 100 mph (155 km/h) with higher gusts. Fluctuations in strength are possible through tonight. Rachel is expected to slowly weaken starting on Monday. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 45 miles (75 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 140 miles (220 km). The estimated minimum central pressure is 968 mb (28.59 inches).— National Hurricane Center · public advisory 29

Rachel tracks over open water — no coast is in the outlook. Along its path, our forecast reads:

This is the East Pacific · 18°N–27°N, 131°W–111°W. Rachel’s forecast track is the dotted spine — the labelled dots mark its position each day. Every cell is shaded by how many hours it spends inside Rachel’s gale-force (≥34 kt · 39 mph) wind across the whole forecast, the damaging core counted double.

Read it two ways at once. Colour is the total — the hours of gale-force wind a place piles up. A slow storm writes its danger in duration, not in any single gust, so the longer the wind sits over a place, the deeper its colour. Opacity is confidence — solid where the official probability of that wind is high, faint where it is only a chance. So a deep, solid cell is a place the wind will work for a long time and likely will; a pale, faint one is a brief, uncertain brush at the edge of the cone.

searched 0 vetted voices and the open field — nothing said about this system cleared the screen.