Hurricane Dora, a Category 4 storm in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico, was strengthening further Thursday although it was not close to land, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Dora, the fourth named storm of the Pacific hurricane season, churned 265 miles south of the western port city of Cabo Corrientes with winds of 140 miles per hour, the Miami-based hurricane center said.
Lazaro Cardenas, a major shipping port, was closed Wednesday as waves and strong winds lashed the coastline. The rest of Mexico's main Pacific ports were open.
Mexico has no major oil installations on its Pacific coast, but sugar- and coffee-growing cropland in southern states could be soaked.
The hurricane, while not expected to make landfall, is shadowing Mexico's pacific coast as it travels northwest.
The center said Dora would cause large swells along the coast of southern Mexico in the next couple of days and may affect the sourthern tip of the Baja California peninsula later Thursday.
"These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions," it warned.