Alvin becomes first hurricane of 2019 Pacific season

June 28 -- Alvin became the first hurricane of the 2019 tropical season and could be just the first of several tropical systems to travel through the Eastern Pacific in the coming week.

The tropical season in the Eastern Pacific Ocean officially began on May 15, but Alvin is only the first named system in the basin.

For a period of about six hours on Thursday night, Alvin's winds intensified and it was classified as a hurricane. Early Friday morning, Alvin was back to tropical storm strength.

Alvin is expected to continue to move north-westward into cooler waters through the weekend, moving it even farther away from land and weakening the core of the system.

Despite the slow start to the season in the Eastern Pacific, AccuWeather meteorologists expect between 20 and 22 named storms, with 10 to 12 forecast to become hurricanes in the Eastern Pacific.

"Alvin had just enough of the right conditions Thursday to allow the storm to briefly strengthen from a tropical storm to a hurricane," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Rinde.

These conditions, including warm waters, a moist atmosphere and less wind shear, are all expected to remain off the southern coast of Mexico into next week, keeping the window open for more tropical development.

Tropical development often starts off with tropical waves.

A tropical wave is a tropical disturbance moving from west to east across an ocean basin that could develop into a tropical cyclone should it enter a favorable atmospheric environment.

While no organized tropical development has followed behind Alvin just yet, several tropical waves are expected to move through the area of favorable development south of Mexico, meaning they could strengthen rather quickly.

"A tropical wave moving through Central America will move westward into the East Pacific during the next couple of days," said AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski.

Should the environment remain favorable, this wave could become the next tropical depression or storm and could form as early as this weekend or early next week, Kottlowski added.

Meanwhile, a third disturbance could move through this same area next week.

As of Friday morning, the weak system is lingering in Colombia, drenching much of the region with soaking rain and thunderstorms. Should the system survive through the rough terrain on the western edge of the country, this could become the next tropical wave to traverse the warm waters of the East Pacific.

"It is possible that two new tropical storms may be spinning over the Eastern Pacific at the same time next week and at least one of those could be a substantial hurricane," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.

"The next two names on the list of storms for the Eastern Pacific are Barbara and Cosme."

Several tropical waves have also been moving across the Atlantic basin over the past few days.

Despite the warm water, these waves are battling strong wind shear and dry Saharan dust, making it quite difficult for a more organized tropical system to form.

These conditions are expected to remain across the Atlantic, keeping it quiet across the basin into at least early next week.