Linda turns into ‘rapidly intensifying’ Pacific hurricane

Tropical Storm Linda was upgraded to a hurricane late Sunday as it “rapidly” intensified in the Pacific Ocean far off Mexico’s coast, forecasters said.

No warnings have yet been put into effect as Linda, a category one hurricane on the five-point Saffir-Simpson scale, headed northwest at 14 miles per hour (22 kilometers per hour), the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

By Monday, however, “Linda could be near major hurricane strength,” it added.

Located some 470 miles south of the tip of Baja California, Linda was packing maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour.

“Weakening is forecast to begin on Tuesday,” the Miami-based center said, but indicated that for the moment, the hurricane was “rapidly intensifying”.

Mexican authorities warned that Linda could cause heavy rains across a handful of western states and asked people to exercise caution.