Powerful Hurricane Lane is due to slam into Mexico's north central Pacific coast Saturday with winds around 195 kilometers-per-hour.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Lane intensified to a dangerous hurricane overnight, and will likely continue to strengthen before it moves over land.
Satellite images show the hurricane is about 300 kilometers east of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It is moving northwest up the Gulf of California at a rate of 18 kilometers an hour. It appears to be bearing down on the area near the mainland beach resort town of Mazatlan in Sinaloa state. The mainland states of Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit also are in the storm's path.
Forecasters say the storm could produce up to 64 centimeters of rain in some isolated mountain areas, possibly producing flash floods and mud slides.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.