Hurricane Hilary hits category 4 ahead of Mexico/US approach

Hurricane Hilary strengthened to category 4 status as it bears down on Mexico's Baja peninsula followed by southern California, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center warned.

“Hilary remains a large and powerful category 4 hurricane,” the NHC said in its latest update.

On the forecast track, the centre of Hilary will move close to the west coast of the Baja California peninsula over the weekend and reach southern California by Sunday night.

“Significant flooding impacts” are possible across the Baja peninsula and into the southwestern United States, they added.

Landfall on Baja should tame the storm some. Hilary is expected to weaken to a tropical storm by Sunday afternoon before it reaches southern California.

The storm was last positioned some 400 miles (640 km) south of Cabo San Lucas on the Baja peninsula’s southernmost tip. The storm was moving WNW or 300 degrees at 13 mph (20 km/h).

Maximum sustained wind speeds have risen to 145 mph (230 km/h).

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 45 miles (75 km) from the centre and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 290 miles (465 km).

The set of tropical storm warnings from the NHC now covers roughly the bottom third of Mexico's Baja peninsula and tropical storm watches take up roughly another third.

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