NOAA's GOES-West satellite watched as Tropical Storm Lowell strengthened into a large hurricane during the morning of August 21 and opened its eye.

Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 60 miles (95 km) from the center, while tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 185 miles (295 km). The storm stretches over a greater distance.

Lowell became the seventh hurricane of the Eastern Pacific Ocean season today, August 21 at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC). Maximum sustained winds had increased to 75 mph (120 kph) making Lowell a Category One hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale. Little change in intensity is forecast by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) today, and NHC forecasters expect a slow weakening trend later today through August 22.

It was centered near latitude 20.0 north and longitude 122.1 west, about 810 miles (1,300 km) west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico. It is moving to the northwest near 3 mph (4 kph) and is expected to move faster in that direction over the next two days.

The NHC said that Lowell should begin to slowly weaken by August 22 as it moves over progressively cooler waters and into a drier and more stable air mass. Since Lowell is such a large cyclone, it will likely take longer than average to spin down.

The GOES-West image of Lowell was created at the NASA/NOAA GOES Project, located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Rob Gutro NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Credit: NOAA/NASA GOES Project

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