The 2026 Eastern Pacific season has produced three Category 5 hurricanes—Genevieve, Lowell, and Polo—tying the seasonal record, with Polo undergoing extreme rapid intensification to 180 mph winds and 892 mb pressure, the second-lowest on record after Patricia. Abnormally warm sea-surface temperatures, reaching 31°C in key areas and amplified by El Niño patterns, fueled this activity and contributed to an accumulated cyclone energy nearly double normal levels. National Hurricane Center observations confirm Polo's explosive strengthening from tropical depression to Category 5 in roughly 40 hours, though it fell short of Patricia's 215 mph and 872 mb benchmarks. With the season active into late September and Nolo still a major hurricane, traders assign a 66.5% implied probability that a stronger storm emerges before November, tempered by model uncertainty and steering patterns that often keep systems offshore.