MIAMI — Tropical Storm Erick formed early Tuesday near southern Mexico and is expected to become a hurricane by Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
The storm was about 450 miles southeast of Punta Maldonado, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour, the center said.
Erick was moving west-northeast at nearly 12 miles an hour.
Earlier on Tuesday, the NHC issued a hurricane watch for southern Mexico as a tropical depression in the eastern Pacific gained strength.
Early Tuesday it had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph and was moving west-northwest at 12 mph, forecasters said. The depression was named Erick when its winds reach tropical storm strength of 39 mph.
The hurricane watch was posted for a stretch of the Pacific coast from Bahia De Huatulco, which is in Oaxaca state, to Punta Maldonado. A hurricane watch means hurricane conditions, with winds exceeding 74 mph, are possible in the area within two days.
A tropical storm watch was in effect further south from Salina Cruz to Bahia De Huatulco.
Heavy rainfall was forecast for parts of Oaxaca and Guerrero with lighter amounts in Chiapas, Tabasco and Veracruz states as well as parts of El Salvador and Guatemala.
