MIAMI — Tropical Storm Karina strengthened into a hurricane in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday and could become a major storm this week, forecasters said. The cyclone’s center was at far out sea and was not threatening land.
Karina had maximum sustained winds of 80 miles per hour (130 kilometers per hour), the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said, making it a Category 1 hurricane. A major hurricane is Category 3 or greater.
The storm was located about 820 miles (1,325 kilometers) southwest of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula and was moving and was moving northwest at 15 miles per hour (24 kilometers per hour) a forecast path farther out into the Pacific.
While Karina was expected to stay well away from land, swells from the storm were likely to cause dangerous surf and rip current conditions along parts of southwest Mexico and the Baja California Peninsula, the hurricane center said.
Elsewhere in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Lowell was 1,150 miles (1,850 kilometers) southeast of Hawaii, and it too posed no threat to land.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecast a below-average Atlantic hurricane season due to El Nino.
It predicted eight to 14 named storms, with three to six of them reaching hurricane strength and one to three intensifying to major hurricanes.
