Category 4 Hurricane Simon closes in on Jalisco with 150 mph winds; landfall expected Sunday

Simon formed Wednesday as Tropical Storm Twenty-E, the 18th named Pacific storm of 2026, and strengthened into a major hurricane Friday evening with sustained winds of 110 miles per hour. By Saturday evening, reconnaissance aircraft found maximum sustained winds of 240 kilometers per hour, placing the storm at the high end of Category 4. Forecasters expect the landfall zone to run between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta, with Mexico's own meteorological service projecting the eye to come ashore Sunday morning between La Huerta and Tomatlan in southern Jalisco.

Manzanillo is Mexico's largest Pacific port and the main gateway for trade with Asia, while Puerto Vallarta is a beach destination of nearly 300,000 residents. Forecasters warn this could be the most significant hurricane impact on this stretch of the Mexican Pacific coast since Lidia in 2023, which damaged thousands of homes and devastated crops along the Jalisco coast.

Jalisco authorities suspended classes in more than 20 coastal municipalities through Tuesday, October 13, and began evacuations in low lying communities. The Mexican Navy moved roughly 80 people and nine pets from the coastal villages of Yelapa and Quimixto to temporary shelters, while businesses in Puerto Vallarta boarded up and fishermen hauled boats off the beach. The navy placed more than 4,000 personnel on alert and restricted port navigation along the coast, while Mexico's DN-III-E disaster plan staged nearly 2,900 troops. Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo airports were closed, and three downed power poles left nine municipalities in Guerrero without electricity.

The storm's rainfall may be its deadliest weapon. Forecasters warn of widespread totals of 250 to 500 millimeters, with isolated amounts up to 750 millimeters at higher elevations, in terrain highly susceptible to flash flooding and mudslides. Mexico's meteorological service cautioned that more than 250 millimeters could fall in Jalisco and Colima in a single 24 hour period.

Simon's fury is one side of a strange 2026 hurricane season. The El Nino conditions that left the Atlantic nearly dormant through September, the quietest season in 60 years, supercharged the Pacific instead. Simon is likely to push the northeastern Pacific basin past its most active hurricane season since records began in 1949. As of early Sunday morning, landfall had not yet occurred.