Miami, Oct 24 (AP) Hurricane Vance rapidly strengthened into a Category 2 storm on Friday as it neared Mexico’s Pacific Coast, the National Hurricane Centre said.
Vance had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (170 kph) as it churned about 425 miles (685 kilometres) south-southwest of Acapulco, according to an advisory from the Miami-based hurricane centre.
It could become a major Category 3 hurricane before the end of Friday, the centre said.
It was moving northwest at about 5 mph (8 kph), and this motion is expected to continue through the weekend, approaching the Puerto Vallarta area by Monday. The hurricane’s outer bands were already funnelling gale-force winds and rough seas into Mexico’s Gulf of Tehuantepec, the centre said.
It has been an intense hurricane season in the Pacific Ocean, with storms spawning in assembly-line fashion near Hawaii and Mexico as El Niño conditions worsened by global warming create unusual weather, like this week’s severe flooding and tornadoes hitting the southwestern United States and the prolonged drought in Central America’s Dry Corridor.
Vance would be the seventh major hurricane in a row this year in the Pacific, following Nolo, Odalys, Polo, Rachel, Simon and Trudy. The World Meteorological Organisation’s Hurricane Committee does not use less common names beginning with Q and U.
(PTI News)
