Tropical system forecast to lash Mexico’s Los Cabos

MEXICO CITY – Authorities issued a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch for the southern end of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, saying Wednesday that high winds, heavy rains and a dangerous storm surge are likely to hit a coastal area that includes the twin resort cities of Los Cabos. And a new tropical storm, Irma, formed far out in the eastern Atlantic.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center reported that a system in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico’s west coast is likely to become a tropical storm by Wednesday night and approach the southern tip of Baja California by late Thursday.

The center said tropical storm conditions are expected to reach land by Thursday morning, and the storm has the potential to grow into a hurricane.

The system’s center was located about 260 miles south-southeast of the peninsula’s tip at midday Wednesday and it was momentarily stationary over the open ocean. It had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph.

The storm was projected to dump as much as 8 to 12 inches of rain in parts of Baja California Sur and Jalisco states, threatening flash floods and landslides.

Also Wednesday, Tropical Storm Irma formed over the far eastern Atlantic Ocean, but forecasters said it posed no immediate threat to land.

Irma’s center was about 420 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands. Maximum sustained winds were 50 mph with higher gusts. It was heading west at 13 mph, and no coastal watches or warnings were in effect.

The Hurricane Center forecast strengthening during the next 48 hours and said Irma could become a hurricane Friday.