Hurricane Rick forms in the Pacific

Hurricane Rick formed in the eastern Pacific and has intensified fairly quickly from a tropical depression just yesterday. Intensification is expected to continue with Rick reaching Cat 2 strength overnight, Cat 3 by Saturday afternoon and category 4 by early Sunday morning. Winds are expected to peak at 125 - 140 MPH making Rick a major hurricane halfway through the weekend.

Hurricane force winds could affect the Mexican coastline as early as this weekend.

Hurricane Rick strengthens in Mexican Pacific (Reuters)

MEXICO CITY, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Hurricane Rick strengthened off Mexico's Pacific coast on Friday and could hit resorts on the Baja California peninsula next week, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Hurricane Rick, the seventh hurricane of the eastern north Pacific season, was located about 270 miles (435 km) south of the resort city of Acapulco with maximum sustained winds near 85 mph (140 kph) with higher gusts.

The center said outer rain bands of the Category 1 storm could reach the southern Mexican coast later on Friday.

Rick's storm track will remain parallel to the Mexican west coast until early next week when he starts to turn towards the north and north-northeast. As Rick makes this turn, wind speeds are expected to lessen but there is a good chance that Rick will still be a hurricane late next week, potentially making landfall on southern Baja California.

Hurricane Rick forms off Mexico's coast - Expected to become Category 4 storm (Examiner)

Rick is currently 290 miles south of Acapulco and moving toward the west at 9 mph. The storm is packing winds of 75 mph, just inside the hurricane threshold. However, forecasters said he storm will continue to strengthen and should become a major hurricane of up to Category 4 strength with winds exceeding 131 mph.

Low wind shear and warm waters will help to feed the storm as it tracks toward the west. By Monday the storm is expected to turn toward the northwest and eventually north by the middle of next week. Where it goes after that is uncertain but it could turn back east toward Baja California.