Tropical Storm Beatriz, the second named storm of the Pacific hurricane season, strengthened off Mexico's Pacific coast late Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. A hurricane warning was in effect for the Mexican coast from Zihuantanejo westward to Manzanillo, and a hurricane watch was in effect from Manzanillo westward to La Fortuna, the NHC said. The center of the storm was expected to approach the coast within the hurricane-warning area by late Monday or early Tuesday, the NHC forecast. At 0300 GMT on Monday, Beatriz was 260 kilometers southwest of Zihuatanejo and headed west-northwest at 19 kilometers per hour (kph) with maximum sustained winds near 90 kph. Mexico has no oil installations in the Pacific but its coast has several popular tourist beach resorts. Hurricane Adrian, which formed earlier this month and caused no damage, was the first hurricane of the 2011 Pacific season.
