Hurricane Blanca Grows off Mexico Coast; Headed for Tip of Baja

Hurricane Blanca strengthened to a category 4 storm off Mexico’s Pacific coast on Wednesday and was expected to bear down on a tourist hub at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Blanca, the second hurricane to form off Mexico’s Pacific coast this year, was about 420 miles (670 km) south-southwest of the beach resort of Zihuatanejo, with maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour (209 km/h), the Miami-based NHC said.

The storm was nearly stationary but it is forecast to strengthen and accelerate to the north-northwest on Thursday, the NHC said.

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 Christine Murray and Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Bernadette Baum and James Dalgleish)