Hilary Strengthens Into Hurricane Off Mexico’s Pacific Coast
Hurricane Hilary strengthened off southwestern Mexico and may become a Category 3 storm by tomorrow as it skirts the coast on a track into the open Pacific, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Hilary is now a Category 1 storm on the five-step Saffir- Simpson scale, with top winds of 85 miles (137 kilometers) per hour, up from 75 mph earlier today. The system is about 100 miles south-southeast of Acapulco, Mexico, and moving west- northwest at 10 mph.
“Hilary could become a major hurricane by Friday,” the center said in an advisory at about 2 p.m. New York time. “On the forecast track, the core of Hilary will continue to move parallel to the southwest coast of Mexico but any deviation to the north of the track could bring stronger winds to the coast.”
Mexico’s government issued a tropical-storm warning from Lagunas de Chacahua to Punta San Telmo and a tropical-storm watch from Punta San Telmo to the coastal resort of Manzanillo, according to the U.S. center. Winds of at least 39 mph, tropical storm strength, are reaching the coast and as much as 5 inches of rain may fall along the shoreline.
Some isolated areas of southern Mexico may receive 10 inches of rain from the storm, the hurricane center said.
In the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Ophelia, the 15th named system of the season, was about 975 miles east-southeast of the Leeward Islands, the center said. The system, moving west at 13 mph, has sustained winds of 65 mph.
Ophelia is expected to weaken in the next two days as it encounters strong upper-level winds, the center said. The hurricane center’s current track forecast predicts Ophelia will veer north of Puerto Rico and into the mid-Atlantic.
To contact the reporters on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net; Yee Kai Pin in Singapore at kyee13@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net
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