Tropical storm Orlene expected to be hurricane off Mexico's Pacific coast
Tropical Storm Orlene is expected to grow into a hurricane by Saturday as its heads for an expected landfall on Mexico's northwestern Pacific coast.
The U.S. National Hurricane Centre said Orlene had maximum sustained winds of 100 kph early Saturday.
It was centred about 380 kilometres south-southwest of Cabo Corrientes and moving north at 7 kph.
The centre said Orlene is a small, compact storm, with tropical storm-force winds extending out only 75 kilometres from the centre.
It was forecast to grow to hurricane force by Saturday morning before falling back to tropical storm strength ahead of a forecast Monday landfall in Sinaloa state, in the region around the resort city of Mazatlan.