Although persistent wind shear and dry air hampered intensification early on, Carlos strengthened into a hurricane on June 13 after moving into a more favorable environment.

Carlos's close track to Mexico prompted coastal authorities to enact precautionary measures along states deemed at risk, including the issuance of tropical cyclone warnings and watches over a large swath of the coast, extending from Acapulco to Cabo Corrientes.

Late on June 2, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) highlighted the potential for an area of low pressure to form well south of the coasts of Guatemala and El Salvador over subsequent days.

[3] Steered steadily northwestward by a subtropical ridge, the disturbance acquired organized, deep convection near the center, prompting the NHC to upgrade it to a tropical depression at 18:00 UTC on June 10.

[1] Following the formation of a spiral band that wrapped more than halfway around the center, the depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Carlos at 12:00 UTC the following day while positioned about 230 miles (370 km) south of Acapulco, Mexico.

[4] The cyclone struggled with a combination of northerly wind shear and dry air entrainment, limiting the storm's associated deep convection to the eastern quadrant.

[5] By early on June 13, however, a ragged eye became evident on visible satellite imagery as the upper-level environment became increasingly conducive for intensification, and Carlos was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale at 12:00 UTC.

[1] Deep convection became increasingly symmetric about the eye, and the cyclone reached its initial peak intensity six hours later with winds of 85 mph (137 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 978 mbar (hPa; 28.88 inHg).

[6] However, early on June 14, the presentation of Carlos began to deteriorate as a result of upwelling and the ingestion of dry air; the eye became obscured and banding features decreased as evident on satellite imagery, while the eyewall became increasingly ill-defined on radar.

[11] Despite persistent northerly wind shear, the presentation continued to improve throughout the morning hours of June 16, with deep convection near the center and a banding eye feature observable.

[12] Concurrent with this period of intensification, Carlos's radius of maximum wind decreased to around 6 mi (9.7 km), a feature noted as "very unusual" by the NHC.

[28] The Bellissima, a luxury yacht reportedly worth MXN$11 million (US$717,000) owned by businessman and politician Jorge Kahwagi, was among the vessels sunk by the storm.