Off Mexico, Dora becomes first hurricane of 2017 season

Hurricane Dora on Monday became the first official storm of the 2017 hurricane season, which started in mid-May and runs through the end of November. Dora is swirling southwest of Mexico in the Pacific Ocean. Image courtesy NHC/NOAA

June 27 (UPI) — The National Hurricane Center said Dora became the first hurricane of the 2017 season when it formed early Monday, and is expected to produce heavy rains and potentially life-threatening conditions.

The NHC said Hurricane Dora, which has maximum sustained winds of 90 mph, is “expected to pass over or just north of Socorro Island on Tuesday, and remain well south of the Baja California peninsula.”

The NHC said in its Monday night advisory that the storm system is moving west-northwest — further out into the Pacific Ocean — at a speed of 13 mph.

Dora is expected to weaken over the next 48 hours and be downgraded to a tropical storm.

Forecasters said, though, that swells from Dora are creating potentially life-threatening surf and rip current conditions for the southwestern coast of Mexico.

There are no tropical storm watches or warnings in effect.

Approximately 2 inches of rain dropped on Mexico’s Guerrero and Michoacán states Monday.

Dora is the first hurricane of either the 2017 Pacific or Atlantic hurricane seasons. It followed six tropical storms — Arlene, Bret and Cindy in the Atlantic and Adrian, Beatriz and Calvin in the Pacific.

 

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