Hurricane Celia was the second-earliest forming Category 5 hurricane in the Eastern Pacific on record, after 1973's
Hurricane Ava
Hurricane Ava was the earliest forming Category 5 hurricane on record in the East Pacific basin. The storm is also tied with 2006's Hurricane Ioke as the fifth-strongest Pacific hurricane on record. It was the first named storm of the 1973 Pacif ...
. The fourth
tropical cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
, third named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the very inactive
2010 Pacific hurricane season
The 2010 Pacific hurricane season was the least active Pacific hurricane season since modern records, tied with 1977. The season saw only eight named storms, alongside a record-breaking low of three hurricanes. However, of those three, two of the ...
, Celia formed from a
tropical wave
A tropical wave (also called easterly wave, tropical easterly wave, and African easterly wave), in and around the Atlantic Ocean, is a type of atmospheric trough, an elongated area of relatively low air pressure, oriented north to south, which ...
about southeast of
Acapulco
Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...
, Mexico on June 18, Celia quickly organized as deep
convection
Convection is single or multiphase fluid flow that occurs spontaneously due to the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoyancy). When the cause of the convec ...
consolidated around the center, attaining hurricane status by June 20. Over the following days, the hurricane's winds fluctuated as
wind shear
Wind shear (or windshear), sometimes referred to as wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and/or direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere. Atmospheric wind shear is normally described as either vertical or horizontal ...
impeded significant development hindering it from becoming potentially dangerous. Once this shear lightened on June 24, the storm
rapidly intensified
In meteorology, rapid intensification is a situation where a tropical cyclone intensifies dramatically in a short period of time. The United States National Hurricane Center defines rapid intensification as an increase in the maximum sustained wi ...
to attain its peak strength with winds of and an estimated
barometric pressure
Atmospheric pressure, also known as barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , which is equivalent to 1013.25 millibars, 7 ...
of 921
mbar
The bar is a metric unit of pressure, but not part of the International System of Units (SI). It is defined as exactly equal to 100,000 Pa (100 kPa), or slightly less than the current average atmospheric pressure on Earth at sea leve ...
(hPa; ). Not long after reaching this strength, wind shear increased and the system entered a dry, stable environment. Over the following 42 hours, Hurricane Celia's sustained winds decreased to tropical storm force and the system began to stall over the open ocean by June 27. Despite highly unfavorable conditions, the storm managed to retain tropical storm status through June 28 and degenerated into a non-convective remnant low that evening. The remnants of Celia drifted northward, completing a counter-clockwise loop, and dissipated on June 30, 2010.
Although Celia remained far away from any populated landmasses, waves from the storm prompted storm advisories along the southern coastline of Mexico. Additionally, its