File:Hurricane Agatha over Mexico (MODIS 2022-06-01).jpg

English: Hurricane season in the eastern Pacific is off to an early and potent start. Though May storms are rare there, Hurricane Agatha struck western Mexico, near Puerto Escondido, bearing maximum sustained winds of 105 miles (169 kilometers) per hour on May 30, 2022. That made the Category 2 storm the strongest May hurricane to make landfall along the Pacific coast of Mexico since modern record keeping began in 1949, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Agatha was only the third hurricane to make landfall in Mexico in May.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of Hurricane Agatha on May 30, 2022, as the storm was making landfall over Mexico. Agatha brought intense downpours and howling winds to several tourist beaches and fishing towns in an otherwise sparsely-populated region before weakening rapidly as it moved northward over the mountainous terrain of southern Mexico. The strong winds and drenching rain have triggered landslides and, as of the evening of May 31, ten people have been reported killed in Oaxaca, Mexico with another 20 people missing there.

At 11:00 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) on May 31, the NHC issued its final advisory on Agatha, stating that the storm had dissipated over the rugged terrain of southeastern Mexico. At that time, they forecast that heavy rains from the remnants of the Agatha could bring up to 16 inches (40 cm) to parts of Mexico. After drenching the Yucatan Peninsula, the storm’s remnants are expected to move over the Gulf of Mexico, where redevelopment is possible. Should this occur, it would acquire the name Tropical Storm Alex and become the first-named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Whether or not the remnants reach tropical storm strength, models suggest that heavy rainfall is likely across Florida later in the week.

The eastern Pacific hurricane season officially runs from May 15 through November 30. The peak months of the season are July through September. NOAA’s seasonal outlook for the eastern Pacific hurricane season in 2022 indicates that a below-normal season is likely. The Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1 and ends November 30, and the seasonal outlook for the Atlantic Ocean predicts a more active season than normal.