Hurricane Adrian forms off the coast of Mexico in the eastern Pacific Ocean

A tropical storm that formed off the coast of Mexico quickly intensified on Wednesday to become Hurricane Adrian, the first storm of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season this year.

The storm had maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour and was moving westward eight mph Wednesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center. Tropical disturbances that have sustained winds of 39 mph will be named. Once winds reach 74 mph, a storm becomes a hurricane.

As of Wednesday morning, Adrian was about 360 miles southwest of the coastal town of Manzanillo, Mexico, moving west and away from land.

Maria Torres, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said the system would maintain the same general direction through Thursday and was expected to make a west-northwest turn on Friday.

The hurricane does not appear to pose an immediate threat to land, she said, adding, “It will remain over open water.” There were no coastguards or warnings in effect in this regard.

But she urged people living along Mexico’s coastal areas to keep an eye on the storm and updates from their local meteorology offices, “because it can bring rip currents and dangerous beach conditions.”

Hurricane-force winds extend up to 10 miles outward from the center of the storm, and tropical storm-force winds extend up to 60 miles, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Whether a storm forms in the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean, it generally moves westward, meaning that Atlantic storms usually pose a greater threat to North America. When a storm forms close to land in the Pacific Ocean, it can bring damaging wind and rain before moving out to sea.

However, an air mass can sometimes block a storm, driving it north or northeast toward the Baja California Peninsula and other parts of Mexico’s west coast. Occasionally, a storm can move further north, as was the case last year with Post-Tropical Cyclone Kay, which brought damaging winds and intense rain to Southern California. Some storms in the Pacific Ocean even pass over the American country; in 1997, Hurricane Nora made landfall in Baja California before moving inland and reaching Arizona as a tropical storm.

The Eastern Pacific hurricane season began on May 15, two weeks before the Atlantic season began. Both seasons run until November 30.

Complicating matters this year in the Pacific is the likely development of El Niño, the intermittent, large-scale weather pattern that could have far-reaching effects on weather around the world.

In the Pacific Ocean, El Niño reduces the changes in wind speed and direction known as wind shear. The instability of wind shear normally helps prevent storms from forming, so a reduction increases the likelihood of storms. (In the Atlantic Ocean, El Niño has the opposite effect.)

Hawaii is located in the central Pacific Ocean, but is occasionally hit by storms that form to the east of it. However, it is unusual for a named storm to make landfall in Hawaii, as the land area is small and divided among several islands. The last hurricane to make landfall in Hawaii was Iniki, in 1992. In 2020, Hurricane Douglas brought damaging winds but did not directly impact the state.

On average, the Eastern Pacific hurricane season generates 15 named storms, eight of those become hurricanes, and four become major hurricanes with winds of 111 mph. The central Pacific typically sees four to five named storms that develop or move across the basin annually.

There is a solid consensus among scientists that hurricanes are becoming more powerful due to climate change. While there may be no more named storms in general, the likelihood of major hurricanes is increasing.

Climate change also affects the amount of rain storms can produce. In a warming world, the air can hold more moisture, meaning a named storm could bring more rain, as Hurricane Harvey did in Texas in 2017, when some areas received more than 40 inches of rain in less than 48 hours.

Researchers have also found that storms have declined in recent decades. When a storm slows down over water, the amount of moisture the storm can absorb increases. When the storm slows over land, the amount of rain that falls in a single location increases. In 2019, Hurricane Dorian slowed to a creep over the northwestern Bahamas, resulting in a total rainfall of 22.84 inches in Hope Town.

Research shows that climate change could also have other impacts on storms, including storm surge, rapid intensification and a wider range of tropical systems.