Hurricane Carlos has weakened slightly but is expected to regain punch, hovering stationary over the Pacific Ocean off Mexico.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the eye of the Category 1 hurricane was about 130 kilometres south-southwest of Acapulco and Carlos had top sustained winds of 120 km/h by 8 a.m. ET Sunday.
Computer projections from the National Hurricane Center show Carlos will likely remain a Category 1 storm when it makes landfall just south of Puerto Vallarta on Tuesday. The storm is likely to lose strength as it makes landfall and pass over Puerto Vallarta as a tropical storm late Tuesday to early Wednesday.
A hurricane warning extends from Punta San Telmo to Tecpan de Galean and a hurricane watch from west of Punta San Telmo to Manzanillo. A tropical storm warning runs east of Tecpan de Galeana to Punta Maldonado. If Hurricane Carlos remains on its projected path, new warnings to include Puerto Vallarta could be issued as early as Monday.
Carlos could eventually dump 6 to 10 inches of rain (150 to 250 millimeters) or more across four southwest Mexican states and cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, forecasters said.
It’s the third hurricane of the 2015 eastern Pacific season.
