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Hurricane Blanca Weakens off Mexico, Still Headed for Resorts

Maritime Activity Reports, Inc.

June 6, 2015

 

Hurricane Blanca weakened to a category 1 storm on Friday but is still expected to hit Mexico's Baja California peninsula on Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Blanca, the second hurricane to form off Mexico's Pacific coast this year, is about 330 miles (531 km) southwest of the major port of Manzanillo, with maximum sustained winds of 90 miles per hour (145 km), the Miami-based NHC said in a report.

The NHC expects the hurricane, which earlier in the week had been as strong as a category 4, to weaken further on Sunday but warned that tropical storm conditions are possible along the Mexican Pacific coast.

"We don't want anyone taking this lightly just because the wind speed didn't go up a little bit," said NHC spokesman Dennis Feltgen.

The storm has been moving northwest since Thursday and will turn north northwest on Saturday, the NHC said, bearing down on Baja California Sur on Sunday.

Last September, Hurricane Odile battered southern Baja California, wreaking havoc on up-market resorts such as Los Cabos and stranding thousands of tourists. 

(Reporting by Max de Haldevang; Editing by James Dalgleish and Chris Reese)
 

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