(To locate storms, run BMAP STRM .)
July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Dora, a major hurricane in the eastern Pacific, may strengthen off Mexico today. In the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Cindy intensified and Bret weakened.
Dora, a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir- Simpson scale is expected to strengthen today before weakening tomorrow, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory issued at 2 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time.
The hurricane was located about 265 miles (426 kilometers) south of Cabo Corrientes, Mexico, and was heading northwest at 13 miles per hour.
Maximum sustained winds increased to near 140 miles per hour with hurricane-force winds extending outward 40 miles, the center said. Mexico’s government has discontinued a tropical storm watch for its southwest coast from Lazaro Cardenas to Cabo Corrientes as the storm moves offshore.
A storm gets hurricane status when winds reach 74 miles per hour. A category 4 hurricane has sustained winds of 131 to 155 miles per hour. A system becomes tropical when it develops cyclonic activity and becomes a named storm when sustained winds reach 39 miles per hour.
In the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Cindy was about 975 miles east-northeast of Bermuda and is gathering strength as it moves northeast at 28 miles per hour with top winds near 60 miles per hour, the center said in a separate advisory. Cindy poses no threat to land and should weaken in a day or so when it hits colder water, the NHC said.
Bret, the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, may become a tropical depression by today, the center said. Winds have dropped to 40 miles per hour from 45. The system was 260 miles east-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and moving northeast at 8 miles per hour.
--With assistance from Ann Koh in Singapore. Editors: Tony Barrett
To contact the reporter on this story: Lananh Nguyen in London at lnguyen35@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net
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