The National Hurricane Center in Miami said while the center of John is forecast to remain just offshore, hurricane-force winds were expected to begin raking beaches near Puerto Vallarta by yesterday. The storm was predicted to arrive in Los Cabos a day later, before heading out to sea.
Forecasters predicted up to 25cm of rain on the coast and "torrential downpours" in the Jalisco state capital of Guadalajara, government news agency Notimex said.
They warned the hurricane could dump up to a foot of rain along parts of Mexico's southern coast, causing landslides or flooding. Dozens of communities were on alert, but no major problems had been reported.
Meanwhile, another weather system, Tropical Storm Kristy, formed in the Pacific far off the Mexican coast early on Wednesday morning, but was forecast to move farther out to sea and pose no threat to coastal inhabitants, the Hurricane Center said. Kristy had maximum sustained winds of 94kph and was moving northwest at about 10kph.
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