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Hurricane Sergio weakens to Category 1

Hurricane Sergio weakened to a Category 1 hurricane Thursday, soaking areas of Mexico's Pacific coast with rain but posing no immediate threat to land.
/ Source: The Associated Press

Hurricane Sergio weakened to a Category 1 hurricane Thursday, soaking areas of Mexico's Pacific coast with rain but posing no immediate threat to land.

Sergio, the 10th hurricane of the year in the eastern Pacific, had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and was centered about 385 miles southeast of the port city of Manzanillo, the U.S. Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Sergio was moving north at about 6 mph, a direction that was expected to continue for the next 12 to 24 hours. The hurricane, which became a Category 2 storm Wednesday with maximum high winds of 110 mph, was dumping rain on a long stretch of the Pacific coast from Manzanillo south to Puerto Angel, the center said.

Hurricane force winds extended outward up to 15 miles from the center, and tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 115 miles.

"We're still predicting that it is going to remain offshore of Mexico and parallel to the coast for the next two to four days," forecaster Michelle Mainelli said. She said Sergio was then expected to weaken to a tropical storm, but that was "still up in the air, so we're urging all residents to keep an eye on what develops."

Tropical storms become hurricanes when wind speeds reach 74 mph. Category 2 hurricanes have minimum wind speeds of 96 mph, while Category 3 hurricanes have minimum wind speeds of 111 mph.

The eastern Pacific hurricane season begins May 15 and ends Nov. 30.

The unusual late-season storm was the second to form in the eastern Pacific this month. It was the first time since 1961 that two tropical storms have formed in the eastern Pacific in the month of November. Only five tropical storms have formed later in the year than Sergio, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.