Against the ropes, Linda has defied expectations by strengthening into the sixth hurricane in the Eastern Pacific in 2009. Wednesday afternoon and evening, following the blog entry posted in the morning, the storm took a turn for the better as it continued to strengthen. Linda then became a hurricane in the 8:00 PM PDT Advisory on Wednesday night with winds of 80 miles per hour.

As of the 8:00 AM PDT (11:00 AM EDT) Advisory from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, Linda is presently situated some 1325 miles to the West-Southwest of Baja California. The storm is moving slowly to the Northwest at 6 miles per hour while its maximum sustained winds have climbed a bit further to 85 miles per hour. Linda is a strong Category One Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. Wind gusts have increased to 105 miles per hour (90 knots) while the pressure has fallen to 29.09 inches of Hg.

Like Fred, Linda is a very compact storm right now with hurricane force winds extending 25 miles from the center while tropical storm force winds extend some 140 miles. Looking at the latest satellite imagery from the Pacific, there is a good ball of convection with Linda along with good outflow in the northern part of the system. However, it is still encountering a good deal of shear from the southwest (15 to 20 knots). The latest forecast discussion from the NHC still calls for Linda to become a remnant low within four days.

Looking at the forecast models, the intensity outlook for Linda by the NHC looks very similar to that of the HWRF while the SHIPS has it becoming a remnant low in 72 hours, and the GFDL has Linda still near depression strength in five days. The UKMET still has Linda as a strong tropical storm over the next 72 hours. The forecast track by the NHC still has Linda bearing to the left with time. The model tracks courtesy of Kerry Emanuel of MIT show that the UKMET and AEMN turn the storm southward while the LBAR still has Linda on course for the Northern Baja. The official guidance appears to lie between the AVN and the GFDL.

Hurricaneville will continue to monitor developments with Linda as post them here for you.