MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A tropical storm is forecast to form on Thursday off Mexico that will likely strengthen into a hurricane this week, causing the government to issue warnings for popular tourist beach resorts on the Pacific coast, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
Tropical Depression Two-E was expected to become a tropical storm as it moved west-northwestward off Mexico at about 13 miles per hour (21 km/h), the U.S.-based NHC said.
“The depression is forecast to strengthen quickly and could become a hurricane by Friday evening,” the NHC said.
Mexico’s government issued a hurricane watch from the port of Lazaro Cardenas in the western state of Michoacan to Cabo Corrientes in Jalisco state farther northwest.
A tropical storm warning was also in effect from Punta Maldonado in the southwestern state of Guerrero, home to tourist hotspot Acapulco, to Manzanillo, a busy port and beach town in Colima state next to Jalisco.
Maximum sustained winds were blowing near 35 mph (55 km/h). Through Saturday, rainfall between 3 and 7 inches is expected across southern Mexico from the state of Oaxaca to Jalisco, which could lead to flash flooding, the NHC said.
Swells were also forecast along Mexico’s southwestern coast, likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.
(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Mark Porter)
