Tropical Storm Fausto is gaining strength in the Eastern North Pacific and is forecast to become a hurricane by Tuesday as it tracks northwest at about 10 mph, according to forecasters.
Fausto was located several hundred miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. The National Hurricane Center said the system is likely to approach major hurricane intensity in the next couple of days. Forecasters expect gradual weakening late in the week as the storm moves over cooler water and into drier air.
“A decrease in forward speed and a motion toward the northwest is expected to continue for the next day or two. A turn back to the west-northwest is expected on Wednesday,” the latest forecast said.
Maximum sustained winds were near 70 mph with higher gusts. Tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 140 miles from the center.
Tropical Storm Fausto and regional outlook
The National Hurricane Center issued its final advisory on Post-Tropical Cyclone Elida, which was located well west-northwest of the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula.
Southwest of Hawaiʻi, showers and thunderstorms tied to a trough of low pressure remained disorganized, the National Weather Service said. Environmental conditions appear favorable for some gradual development as the disturbance moves generally west over the next several days.
Forecasters with the NOAA National Weather Service Honolulu Forecast Office continue to call for an above-normal hurricane season in the central Pacific. NOAA’s outlook for the 2026 hurricane season, which runs June 1 to Nov. 30, projects a 70 percent chance of above-normal activity, with a total of 5 to 13 tropical cyclones across the central Pacific.
