MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Vance quickly strengthened On Friday, it strengthened into a Category 2 storm as it approached the Pacific coast of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center announced.
Vance had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (170 kph) as it moved about 425 miles (685 kilometers) south-southwest of Acapulco, according to an advisory from the Miami-based hurricane center.
It could become a major Category 3 hurricane before the end of Friday, the center said.
It was moving northwest at about 5 mph and this movement is expected to continue through the weekend, approaching the Puerto Vallarta area by Monday. The hurricane’s outer bands were already channeling strong winds and rough seas toward Mexico’s Gulf of Tehuantepec, the center said.
It was an intense hurricane season in the Pacific Ocean, with storms rolling out in an assembly line fashion near Hawaii and Mexico as El Niño terms worsened by global warming create unusual weather, like this week severe flooding and tornadoes striking the southwestern United States and the extension drought in the Central American dry corridor.
Vance would be the seventh consecutive major hurricane this year in the Pacific, after Nolo, Odalys, Polo, Rachel, Simon and Trudy. The World Meteorological Organization’s Hurricane Committee does not use less common names beginning with Q and U.
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This story has been corrected to remove an erroneous reference to storm names beginning with X, Y and Z.
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