NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER
The 5-day forecast track for Hurricane Carlotta.
UPDATE , 5 p.m.
Hurricane Carlotta is now heading westward, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, with the motion expected to continue for the next day or so.
Carlotta is about 590 miles west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja, Calif., heading west at 14 mph.
By Saturday night, NHC said, Carlotta is forecast to turn to the west-northwest.
Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 85 mph, with higher gusts, and additional strengthening forecast within the next day, then a steady weakening through early next week.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 10 miles from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 80 miles.
EARLIER
Carlotta strengthened to become a hurricane overnight in the Eastern Pacific.
At 5 a.m. Hawaii time the center of Hurricane Carlotta was located about 455 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and heading west-northwest at 14 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Forecasters expect Carlotta to strengthen over the next day or so while continuing on its current track, gradually slowing down over the next several days. Carlotta should weaken to a post-tropical storm by early next week as it approaches the Central Pacific, they said today.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 10 miles from Calotta’s center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 80 miles.