Mexico City - Hurricane Bud strengthened off Mexico's Pacific coast on Thursday and could threaten parts of southwestern Mexico with heavy rainfall and flooding on Friday, the United States National Hurricane Centre said.
The first hurricane off the Pacific coast this season, Bud is located about 400km southwest of the major port of Manzanillo, and is moving north-northeast at around 13km/h, the Miami-based centre said on Thursday.
“A north-northeastward motion at a slower forward speed is expected during the next 48 hours,” the centre said in an advisory published at 2pm EST (18h00 GMT).
Now a Category 2 hurricane, Bud is producing maximum sustained winds of 175km/h and stronger gusts. It could strengthen on Thursday afternoon, but is expected to weaken during the night or early on Friday, the centre said.
Bud may not make landfall but could still generate hurricane-force winds off southwestern Mexico by late on Friday, a spokesperson for the centre said.
The hurricane is expected to soak the states of Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco and southern Nayarit with around 15cm of rain.
Mexico's government has begun a hurricane watch along the coast from Punta San Telmo to Cabo Corrientes.
Tropical storm conditions are forecast within the stretch through Friday afternoon, when the hurricane's centre is expected to be just offshore.
All Mexican ports on the Pacific coast remain open including Manzanillo, where the transport ministry said the weather was calm with partly cloudy skies.
Mexico has no major oil installations on the Pacific coast. - Reuters