MEXICO CITY (NEWSnet/AP) — Tropical Storm Hilary formed Wednesday far off Mexico’s southern Pacific coast, and it is expected to move towards the Baja California peninsula later this week.

Hilary had winds of 40 mph Wednesday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Hilary was located about 470 miles south-southeast of the port city of Manzanillo, far from land.

The storm was moving west-northwest at 14 mph. But it is expected to turn northward later in the week and strengthen into a hurricane before possibly brushing the northern part of the Baja peninsula, near the U.S. border, as a tropical storm.

The Hurricane Center said that “Hilary has the potential to bring impacts to the Baja California Peninsula and portions of the southwestern United States this weekend.”

Two other current tropical storms, Fernanda and Greg, were far out to sea in the Pacific.

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