Amanda is weakening quickly well off the coast of Mexico after becoming the strongest eastern Pacific hurricane on record in the month of May on Sunday following a period of rapid intensification.
It is now drifting slowly to the northeast; this slow forward motion is expected to continue through Thursday. Once Amanda's circulation degenerates to mainly a low-level center, a slow southwest drift is expected. Other than a few minor islands well offshore such as Socorro Island, it is no threat to land.
Amanda is expected to continue weakening. Its slow motion is stirring up the waters beneath it, allowing colder water to come to the surface. Additionally, vertical wind shear and dry, more stable air has disrupted its circulation and convection near its center and will continue to do so. Amanda should weaken to a remnant low by the end of the week.
Again, to reemphasize, this system is not expected to threaten the North American mainland. However, it is possible some of Amanda's remnant mid-and upper-level moisture may get pulled northward into parts of the Desert Southwest and Rockies later in the week.
Amanda's estimated maximum sustained winds reached 155 mph late Sunday morning, putting it at the top end of the Category 4 range on the five-category Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
This surpassed 2001's Hurricane Adolph, which was previously the eastern Pacific's strongest May hurricane on record. The strongest Atlantic May hurricane of record was Category 3 Hurricane Able with peak winds of 115 mph off North Carolina's Outer Banks on May 21, 1951.
Amanda, the first named storm and first hurricane of the eastern Pacific hurricane season, formed on the afternoon of May 22 as a tropical depression about 635 miles south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico.
http://www.weather.com/news/weather-hurricanes/tropical-storm-hurricane-amanda-20140523
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