Canadians are being advised to avoid travelling to western Mexico as hurricane Newton threatens to strike the region.
Global Affairs Canada has issued a travel advisory as the hurricane heads toward the Baja California peninsula.
The agency says Canadians should avoid all non-essential travel to the coastline between Cabo San Lazaro and Loreto.
The advisory says Canadians living or travelling in the region should monitor local news and weather reports, follow the advice of local authorities.
About 14,000 tourists remained in Los Cabos as of Monday night as airlines cancelled flights out as the storm approached, said Genaro Ruiz, the state tourism secretary. Ruiz said tourists had been advised to remain in their hotels.
Newton was about 200 kilometres southeast of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo by early Tuesday. The storm was moving northwest at 26 kilometres per hour with maximum sustained winds of 150 km/h.
Forecasters expect Newton to gain speed, with the storm centre expected to be near or over the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula by Tuesday morning, by which time it could be near hurricane intensity.
The government of Mexico has issued a hurricane warning for the west coast of the Baja California Sur from north of Puerto Cortes to Cabo San Lazaro.
Authorities in the southern portion of Mexico's Baja California peninsula ordered schools closed and set up emergency shelters. Coastal portions of five Mexican states could see 13 to 25 centimetres of rain, with isolated maximums of 38 centimetres.
Newton is expected to cross over the peninsula and re-enter the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez, on Wednesday.
The hurricane centre says the storm is likely to continue north into Arizona as a tropical depression later in the week.
