MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Amanda has unexpectedly regained some strength far off Mexico’s Pacific coast but is not a threat to land.
The hurricane’s maximum sustained winds early Tuesday had increased to near 125 mph, making it a Category 3 storm. But the U.S. National Hurricane Center says weakening is expected to resume and Amanda should become a tropical storm by late Wednesday.
The hurricane is centered about 620 miles south-southwest of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula and is moving north-northwest near 5 mph.
While Amanda was forecast to stay out to sea, Mexico’s National Meteorological Service said rains associated with the storm were likely to drench much of western and central Mexico.
Mexico’s national civil protection authorities urged people living near the coast to keep an eye out for swelling rivers and potential mudslides in mountainous areas and to listen to broadcasts about the storm’s location and possible effects.
The Eastern Pacific hurricane season officially started May 15. The Atlantic hurricane season starts June 1.
