Hurricane Rick is the second-strongest hurricane in the eastern North Pacific since 1966

Rick was the second-strongest hurricane in the eastern North Pacific since 1966, when experts began keeping reliable records, said Hurricane Center meteorologist Hugh Cobb.

The strongest was Hurricane Linda, which generated maximum winds of 185 mph (296 kph) in September 1997.

"Rick is probably going to go into the record books as one of the most rapidly intensifying hurricanes," Cobb said.

SHOOT: Beautiful storm.

clipped from news.yahoo.com MEXICO CITY – Hurricane Rick, the strongest eastern North Pacific storm in more than a decade, raged across open seas on Sunday, but forecasters said it could veer into resorts at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula by midweek. The track of the Category 5 hurricane threatened to disrupt a major sport fishing tournament scheduled to start Wednesday in Los Cabos, where hundreds of fishermen — mainly Americans — were gathering. The hurricane's winds were still a howling 175 mph (280 kph) Sunday, down slightly from a peak of 180 mph (285 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. But it was projected to move over cooler waters and weaken to around Category 2 status with winds of around 98 mph (156 kph) before hitting land. Mercado said that in the past, "very big" 700 to 800 pound fish had been caught in the wake of storms because the churned-up waters draw in hungry fish.