Hurricane Polo is a Category 5 hurricane and its maximum winds peaked at 180 mph earlier in the week after rapid intensification.

Hurricane Polo intensified rapidly in the Pacific off the southwestern Mexican coast, growing into a Category 5 storm before weakening slightly to a Category 4. Here's the latest on its path.

Ahead of Hurricane Polo, Hurricane Odalys, out in the eastern Pacific Ocean, is also expected to elevate surf heading into the weekend, with mid-range waves in the 3- to 5-foot range forecast at south-facing beaches.

Two major storm systems churned across the Pacific on Thursday, triggering evacuations along Mexico’s western coast and putting Hawaii on high alert for catastrophic flooding. Hurricane Polo, a powerful Category 5 system with sustained winds of 160 mph (257 kph),

Forecasts are starting to point to Hurricane Polo making landfall on Baja California, creating a chance for tropical moisture to reach the Southwest.

Hurricane Polo has grown into one of the most powerful Pacific cyclones in decades and is expected to skirt Mexico’s southwestern coast as a major hurricane.

The predicted path of Hurricane Polo as of Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center, involves a loop outward from mainland Mexico and inward toward Baja California Sur, with landfall in the Magdalena Bay region beginning Monday.

"That part of the eastern Pacific is notorious during El Niño years."