MEXICO CITY, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Hurricane Aletta intensified on Friday to category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, while located 815 km southwest of the port of Manzanillo in Colima state, Mexico's national weather service, National Meteorological Service (SMN), announced.
An SMN report said that at 10 a.m., Aletta "presented sustained maximum winds of 220 km/h and gusts of up to 270 km/h."
Aletta is the first hurricane in the eastern Pacific this season, which began formally on May 15 and will last until November 30.
These conditions have reinforced the threat of very strong rains lashing Mexico's western states of Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan and Nayarit.
The SMN also reported a new weather front south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec in southeastern Mexico, which could turn into a hurricane.
It also recommended that populations in the aforementioned area take extreme precaution due to the risk of rains, wind and strong waves.
Mexico's National Water Commission (Conagua) is predicting 32 hurricanes for this season, four more than average, with 18 in the Pacific and 14 in the Atlantic.