Tropical Storm Calvin becomes third named storm in the Eastern Pacific

Tropical Storm Calvin, the third named storm of this year’s eastern Pacific hurricane season, gained strength off Mexico’s west coast while the U.S. National Hurricane Center monitored another system in the Atlantic. Calvin, which formed yesterday, was about 345 kilometers (215 miles) southwest of the Mexican resort of Manzanillo and moving west-northwest at 24 kilometers per hour, the center said in a website advisory at 4:45 a.m. Miami time. The system’s maximum sustained winds strengthened to 85 kilometers an hour (50 mph) from 65 kilometers per hour yesterday.

The storm was forecast to intensify and head farther out to sea without threatening mainland Mexico. The five-day forecast map shows Calvin may hit Mexico’s sparsely populated Revillagigedo islands southwest of Cabo San Lucas tomorrow or on July 10. They are about 400 kilometers from Baja California and include a naval base. The hurricane center is also tracking an area of showers over Florida and surrounding waters that it says has a 10 percent chance of becoming a tropical or subtropical storm or depression within 48 hours. That’s down from 30 percent six hours earlier. Hurricanes are watched closely because they are a threat to oil and natural gas interests in the Gulf of Mexico and agriculture in the U.S. South. Florida is the second-largest citrus producer behind Brazil while the Gulf accounts for 31 percent of U.S. oil output and 43 percent of refining capacity.