Hilary may become Pacific hurricane near Mexican coast today

Tropical Storm Hilary strengthened near southwestern Mexico and may become a Pacific hurricane today, while Ophelia is forecast to remain below hurricane strength as it continued westward in the Atlantic.

Hilary, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south-southwest of Puerto Escondido, Mexico, was moving west-northwest at 8 miles per hour, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory at 2 a.m. Miami time. The system packed maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour, below the 74 mph required to be classed as a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale.

“Hilary is expected to become a hurricane on Thursday,” the center said. The storm “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 yesterday issued a tropical-storm warning from Lagunas de Chacahua westward to Lazaro Cardenas and a tropical-storm watch from there to Manzanillo, according to the hurricane center.

In the Atlantic, Ophelia, the 15th named storm of the season, was about 1,065 miles east of the Leeward Islands, the Miami-based center said in an earlier advisory. The system, moving west at 15 mph with top winds of 60 mph, is forecast to maintain its strength in the next 48 hours.

--With assistance from Brian K. Sullivan in Boston. Editors: John Chacko, Ryan Woo

To contact the reporter on this story: Yee Kai Pin in Singapore at kyee13bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2bloomberg.net