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© APSatellite image shows Hurricane Odile taken at 5:45 a.m. ET on Sunday.
Rapidly strengthening Hurricane Odile further intensified before dawn Sunday and was swirling over the Pacific as a major storm toward an expected close brush with the southern portion of Mexico's Baja California peninsula by nightfall.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Odile became a powerful Category 4 hurricane before dawn Sunday. Odile's core was predicted to stay out in the Pacific, but it was following a track that was forecast to take the storm's edge very close or even over Baja's southern end by Sunday night and into Monday.

The storm's maximum sustained winds had increased to 135 mph Sunday morning. It was centered about 195 miles west of Manzanillo, Mexico and 310 miles south-southeast of the southern tip of Baja California, Odile was moving to the north-northwest at 15 mph.

Mexican officials posted hurricane warnings northward along the west coast of Baja California to Puerto San Andresito. High winds and dangerous surf were expected along the shore beginning Sunday, and heavy rains were possible for Baja and nearby mainland areas.

In the central Atlantic, Tropical Storm Edouard also gained strength and the U.S. center said it could become a hurricane on Sunday, although it is expected to remain far out at sea and pose no threat to land.

The center said Edouard had sustained winds of 70 mph late Saturday. It was centered 950 miles east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands and moving northwest at 14 mph.

via Associated Press