Miami: Hurricane Vance rapidly strengthened into a Category 2 storm on Friday as it neared Mexico's Pacific Coast, the National Hurricane Centre said.
Vance had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (170 kph) as it churned about 425 miles (685 kilometres) south-southwest of Acapulco, according to an advisory from the Miami-based hurricane centre.
It could become a major Category 3 hurricane before the end of Friday, the centre said.
It was moving northwest at about 5 mph (8 kph), and this motion is expected to continue through the weekend, approaching the Puerto Vallarta area by Monday. The hurricane's outer bands were already funnelling gale-force winds and rough seas into Mexico's Gulf of Tehuantepec, the centre said.
Satellite imagery from the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) showed the eye of the hurricane moving towards Mexico.
“Its center is located 685 km south-southwest of Acapulco, Guerrero state, and 895 km south-southeast of Manzanillo, Colima state,” the Mexican Civil Protection said
The CIRA said it expected steady to rapid strengthening through Friday night, as Vance is forecast to become a “major hurricane”.
The government said heavy rains were expected in the states of Michoacan and Oaxaca, and two- to three-meter-high surf along the coast of Guerrero.
It has been an intense hurricane season in the Pacific Ocean, with storms spawning in assembly-line fashion near Hawaii and Mexico as El Niño conditions worsened by global warming create unusual weather, like this week's severe flooding and tornadoes hitting the southwestern United States and the prolonged drought in Central America's Dry Corridor.
Vance would be the seventh major hurricane in a row this year in the Pacific, following Nolo, Odalys, Polo, Rachel, Simon and Trudy. The World Meteorological Organisation's Hurricane Committee does not use less common names beginning with Q and U.
(With agency inputs from Reuters & PTI)