Kristy rapidly weakening in Pacific after becoming a powerful Category 5 hurricane

Hurricane Kristy reached the top rung of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale as a very powerful Category 5 cyclone on Thursday before starting to rapidly weaken over the open Pacific OceanKristy was born from the remnants of former Tropical Storm Nadine, which reorganized into a new storm Monday after crossing Mexico and reaching the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Since this was not Nadine’s original circulation, the NHC assigned it the next name on that basin’s naming list.Nadine had made landfall near Belize City, Belize, on Saturday afternoon, packing sustained winds of 60 mph. After moving inland over Central America and Mexico, the storm weakened and dissipated Sunday before its remnants emerged off the Pacific coast of southern Mexico.HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHERAs of Saturday, Kristy was rapidly approaching minimal hurricane status, with further weakening expected over the weekend. Kristy is expected to dissipate early next week.WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TROPICAL DEPRESSION, TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE?The FOX Forecast Center said the hurricane is not expected to impact any land areas as it remains over the open waters of the Eastern Pacific, but large swells generated by Kristy will affect portions of the west coast of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula late this week and over the weekend.”These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” the NHC warned.Editor’s note: A push alert from the FOX Weather app noted that Kristy was the eighth Category 5 hurricane on record for October in the Eastern Pacific. Two of those hurricanes were found to not have reached Category 5 status until entering the Central or Western Pacific Basin, making Kristy only the sixth for the Eastern Pacific Basin in October.