Hurricane Patricia threatens Mexico coast

Hurricane Patricia spiralled toward Mexico's Pacific coast today, threatening to mushroom into an "extremely dangerous" major storm before making landfall, forecasters said.
Patricia grew from a tropical storm to a hurricane before dawn and was packing maximum sustained winds of 155 kilometres per hour, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
The Miami-based forecasters warned in their latest bulletin that the Category 2 storm in the five level Saffir-Simpson scale was expected to reach the coast on Friday "as an extremely dangerous major hurricane."
Patricia was located 460 kilometres south of Manzanillo, in Colima state, and 385 kilometres from another major port further south, Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan state.

Mexican authorities have urged people to take precautions and stay informed about the storm's progress.
Patricia is expected to produce six to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimetres) of rainfall accumulations, with isolated amounts of 20 inches (50 centimetres) over the states of Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan and Guerrero, which could produce flash floods and mudslides, the US center said.