Hurricane Celia, the first of the 2010 Pacific season, increased Wednesday into a major Category 3 on the one-to-five Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. On June 20 Celia was growing as a tropical storm, with powerful thunderstorms in the southwest quarter of the storm.

The eastern Pacific is a hot bed of storm activity in this period and because the waters are very warm over there and may generate hurricanes. According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, the storm have increased to about 65 mph Wednesday night and it is expected to intensify to a Category 4 by Thursday morning. Celia’s estimated minimum central pressure is 970 millibars.
It is located about 735 miles (1,180 kilometers) south-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California.

The storm will represent no danger to land as it heads westward this week. Celia is moving westward at 11 mph over cooler water and weaken. If she stays on this path she may bring Hawaii some rain next week and her winds might be down to almost nothing.

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