Hurricane Andres has become the first hurricane of the Pacific hurricane season, predicted to dump as much as 20 centimeters of rain on parts of west-central Mexico.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center upgraded Andres from a tropical storm to a hurricane late Tuesday. At last report, the storm had sustained winds of 120 kilometers per hour as it hovered some 105 kilometers west-southwest of the port city of Manzanillo. Andres is predicted to bring a coastal storm surge of nearly one meter above normal.

Forecasters say the storm is moving northwest at 21 kilometers per hour and could pass over Baja California later in the week.

Hurricane and tropical storm warnings have been issued for much of Mexico's southwestern coastal region.  

Andres is the first named storm of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season.


Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.