LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Hurricane Agatha is the strongest hurricane to hit Mexico's Pacific coast during the month of May since record-keeping started in 1949, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
It made landfall west of Puerto Angel, Mexico, as a category two hurricane Monday afternoon, with sustained wind speeds of 105 mph.
As Agatha made landfall, it quickly fell apart and became a Tropical Depression by Tuesday morning. That means it's no longer categorized as a hurricane.
However, the NHC said the storm system could regain strength as it moves across the warm Gulf of Mexico.
The NHC has lists of names for tropical storms and hurricanes for three different parts of the ocean the storms are located.
There's the Eastern North Pacific, which hurricane Agatha is a part of, Central North Pacific and the Atlantic.
Each section has its own list of names that the NHC cycles through every six years.
Tropical Storm Names
Hurricane Agatha's storm path makes for an interesting situation. The hurricane originated in the Eastern North Pacific, so its name came from that list.
However, after the storm system fell off, meteorologists say it has the potential to resurface and form a new tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico, which would make it part of the Atlantic naming system.
If it strengthens to tropical storm status, with wind speeds of at least 39 mph, it would then be called "Alex", from the Atlantic naming list.
So, even though it's the same storm system as Hurricane Agatha, because it fell apart and crossed into the Atlantic ocean the name for the potentially new storm will change.
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