MEXICO CITY, Oct 19 — Hurricane Rick’s 281kmph winds weakened today and the storm was reclassified as a category four hurricane but weather officials said it still posed a danger to Mexico’s southern Baja peninsula.
At 0300 GMT Rick was about 660kmph south of the resort of Cabo San Lucas, moving toward the northwest at 20 kmh. Its maximum sustained winds had slipped to 230kmph by the time it was downgraded from category five — the most powerful on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale — to category four.
The US National Hurricane Centre said additional weakening is forecast during the next two days but Rick still is expected to be a dangerous hurricane as it approaches Baja California.
The centre said a hurricane watch may be required for parts of the peninsula early today and it was expected to hit Baja California resorts by mid-week.
Rick is the seventh hurricane of the eastern north Pacific season. Pacific storms pose no threat to Mexico’s large oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico but the Baja California peninsula is popular with US tourists for its resorts in the Los Cabos area. — Reuters
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