UPDATE: Hurricane Blanca Weakens off Mexico Coast; Bound for Baja Resorts

Hurricane Blanca weakened slightly off Mexico’s Pacific coast on Thursday but could restrengthen as it continues moving toward tourist resorts 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 435 miles (700 km) south of the major port of Manzanillo, with maximum sustained winds of 100 miles per hour (161 km), the Miami-based NHC said in a report.

It had earlier been a powerful category 4 storm on the five-step scale of hurricane strength, though the NHC said it may restrengthen again over the next 24 to 36 hours.

The storm drifted slightly south-west early Thursday before moving north-westward from late morning, the NHC said, expecting it to pick up speed in the same direction during the next 48 hours.

The states of Nayarit, Sinaloa, Baja California Sur, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco were on alert, Mexico’s Interior Ministry 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 Max de Haldevang; editing by Simon Gardner and James Dalgleish)

Topics California Catastrophe Natural Disasters Hurricane Mexico