Hurricane Marco-Polo

Hurricane Marco-Polo was a strong and unusual hurricane that caused major damage to Belize in the 2026 Atlantic and Pacific hurricane seasons. It was a rare storm to cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Marco peaked as a category 2 in the Atlantic and Polo peaked as a category 4 in the Pacific. Marco's remnants regenerated in the Pacific and were named "Polo". This was an extremely odd coincidence in that "Marco Polo" also happens to be the name of a famous Italian merchant.

Meteorological History
On October 5, a tropical wave exited the coast of Africa. Strong wind shear and dry air limited development of the wave for several days. As the wave entered the southern Caribbean, the environment became more favorable. On October 10, the NHC began monitoring the wave for possible tropical development as it tracked at an unusually southern latitude near the Windward Islands. On October 14, the low acquired a closed circulation and developed into Tropical Depression Fourteen. 12 hours later, the system acquired tropical storm-force winds and was named Tropical Storm Marco. Similar to Marco of 2008, 2026's Marco had a very small size although not nearly as small as the 2008 incarnation. On October 16, Marco intensified to a category 1 hurricane, entering a very favorable environment. Rapid deepening then took place, as Marco's winds would intensify to 110 mph, a strong category 2 hurricane, on October 17. Late that evening, Marco made landfall near Belize. Marco then dissipated at 06:00 UTC on October 18 while located over

The remnants of Marco pulled into the Pacific, with the NHC monitoring them for re-development in the Pacific basin. On October 19, the low pulled back together into Tropical Depression Seventeen-E. On October 20, Seventeen-E developed into Tropical Storm Polo. Moving slowly through the Pacific, Polo began to intensify. On October 22, Polo intensified into a category 1 hurricane. On October 24, Polo became a category 4 hurricane with winds of 130 mph. Steady weakening took place thereafter, as Polo was downgraded to a tropical storm by October 29. Polo then dissipated on October 31 in the central Pacific, east of Hawaii.