Tropical Storm Aletta Strengthens in Pacific Off Mexico Brian K. Sullivan - Bloomberg News
go to original May 15, 2012

East Pacific Tropical Weather Outlook (NOAA/National Hurricane Center)

Aletta, the first tropical storm of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season, gained strength as it moved into the open ocean and away from land.

The storm’s top winds increased to 45 miles (72 kilometers) per hour, up from 40 mph earlier today, according to a National Hurricane Center advisory just before 5 p.m. New York time.

Aletta was 810 miles south of the tip of Baja California and moving west at about 10 mph. Winds of at least 39 mph extended 90 miles from its center.

The system is expected to fall apart in about three days without reaching hurricane strength, which would require top winds of 74 mph, according to a center analysis.

The hurricane center is also tracking a large area of disturbed weather in the Pacific off the coast of Central America that has 10 percent chance of becoming a tropical system in the next two days.

The Eastern Pacific hurricane season officially began today. The Atlantic season starts June 1.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!