Hurricane Simon Lurks Off the Mexican Coast

Hurricane Simon, the latest in a long progression of tropical cyclones in the Eastern Pacific this season, passed close to the Mexican coast as a category 4 storm on October 11, 2026. Sustained winds reached 250 kilometers (155 miles) per hour as it crept north-northwest. Simon’s eye was about 50 kilometers (30 miles) offshore, between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta, when the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the Suomi NPP satellite acquired this image around 2:30 p.m. local time (20:30 Universal Time) on October 11.

By that time, sustained winds were about 210 kilometers (130 miles) per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), and the storm’s inner core was brushing up against the coast. The topography of the Sierra Madre mountains appeared to temper the storm’s intensity somewhat and shrink the size of its wind field, the NHC noted. Still, the major hurricane delivered heavy rain and flooding to coastal areas, including the port city of Manzanillo, and raised the risk of mudslides in mountainous areas, according to news reports .