Mexican officials closed schools and prepared emergency shelters as Tropical Storm Patricia approached the west coast's Los Cabos resorts on Tuesday. The storm had winds near 95 kilometers per hour (kph), and a slight strengthening was possible though it was not expected to reach hurricane force of 119 kph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in Miami. At 1430 GMT, Patricia was located about 190 kilometers south-southeast of the tourist zone at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula and was moving north at about 11 kph. Forecasters said the storm could drop 2.5 to 7.5 centimeters of rain on the region. The state government for the southern half of the peninsula announced that all schools were closed Tuesday and said officials were readying 159 shelters in case of evacuations. Mexico's federal government issued a tropical-storm warning for the southern part of the desert peninsula, including Cabo San Lucas.
