Hurricane Kenneth reaches Category 4 force in Pacific

Hurricane Kenneth has rapidly grown into a monster Category 4 storm, but it’s centered far off Mexico’s Pacific coast and posing no threat to land.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Kenneth had winds of 130 mph (215 kph) early Monday and could strengthen further before weakening later in the day.

The hurricane was centered about 1,355 miles (2,180 kilometers) west-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula. It was moving west-northwest at about 10 mph (17 kph) over the open sea.

Meanwhile, the remnant of Tropical Storm Harvey has been slogging across the Caribbean Sea. The hurricane center says it’s likely to bring heavy rains across northern Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. It might later regain tropical storm force over the Gulf of Mexico