Willa strengthened into a hurricane around 06:00 UTC on October 21, as it developed an intermittent pinhole eye in the center of its convection as outflow became well-established. Environmental conditions under the cyclone and aloft were favorable, with very low wind shear, high levels of moisture, and sea surface temperatures of 29 ☌ (84 ☏). At the same time, Willa turned towards the northwest as it began traveling around the western edge of a mid-level ridge.

Soon after its genesis, Willa began to rapidly intensify, with its low-level center becoming embedded beneath a central dense overcast. Landfalling Pacific major hurricanes Intensity is measured solely by wind speed Hurricane The system then developed a tight inner core, strengthening into a tropical storm around 12:00 UTC, while located about 290 mi (465 km) south-southwest of Manzanillo. Banding features began to develop south of the center and that the system had very cold cloud top temperatures of −85 to −91 ☌ (−121 to −132 ☏).

The original low to the west gradually organized while moving westward, and at 00:00 UTC on October 20, the system developed into a tropical depression while located approximately 265 mi (425 km) south of Manzanillo, Mexico. A new low-pressure trough developed to the east of the original low early on October 19, which organized into Tropical Storm Vicente later that day. The tropical wave moved into the East Pacific early on October 17 and quickly organized however, the system failed to coalesce into a tropical cyclone and became increasingly disorganized and elongated on the next day. However, organization was hindered as the system quickly made landfall in Belize on the next day. On the next day, the system became better organized southeast of the Yucatán Peninsula, and the storm encountered more favorable conditions as it neared land a Hurricane Hunter aircraft was scheduled to survey the system for further development.

On October 14, the NHC began monitoring the wave for tropical development while it was located in the southwestern Caribbean Sea. Over the next few days, the wave produced intermittent bursts of deep convection near a well-defined mid-level circulation center however, the convection was soon sheared away by strong vertical wind shear from the west and southwest as the system traveled westward at a speed between 15–20 kn (17–23 mph 28–37 km/h). Willa's origins can be traced back to a tropical wave that departed from the west coast of Africa on October 2. The hurricane killed six people, and caused $825 million (2018 USD) in damages, mostly around the area where it moved ashore.Įxtratropical cyclone / Remnant low / Tropical disturbance / Monsoon depression Up to its landfall, Willa prompted the issuance of hurricane and tropical storm watches and warnings for western Mexico. Following landfall, Willa rapidly weakened, dissipating later on the same day over northeastern Mexico. Afterward, a combination of an eyewall replacement cycle and increasing wind shear weakened the hurricane, and early on October 24, Willa made landfall as a marginal Category 3 hurricane, in Sinaloa of the northwestern Mexico. On October 21, Willa became a Category 4 major hurricane, before strengthening further to Category 5 intensity on the next day.

Later in the day, the system became a tropical storm as it began to rapidly intensify. The NHC continued to track the disturbance until it developed into a tropical depression on October 20, off the coast of southwestern Mexico. The system subsequently crossed over Central America into the East Pacific, without significant organization. The twenty-fifth tropical cyclone, twenty-second named storm, thirteenth hurricane, tenth major hurricane, and record-tying third Category 5 hurricane of the 2018 Pacific hurricane season, Willa originated from a tropical wave that the National Hurricane Center (NHC) first began monitoring for tropical cyclogenesis in the southwestern Caribbean Sea, on October 14. Hurricane Willa was the fifth costliest Pacific hurricane on record, as well as the strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall in the Mexican state of Sinaloa since Lane in 2006. Part of the 2018 Pacific hurricane season Hurricane Willa at peak intensity west of Jalisco early on October 22

Willa hurricane track