Mexico City — Hurricane Flossie has strengthened into a powerful Category 3 hurricane off Mexico’s southwestern Pacific coast with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. The hurricane center said Flossie would begin weakening later Wednesday.

Hurricane Flossie strengthened to a Category 3 cyclone late Tuesday while remaining off the Pacific coast of Mexico. Flossie had maximum sustained winds of 185 kph (115 mph) and was moving west-northwest at about 10 mph (17 kph),

Hurricane Flossie experienced a period of rapid intensification on Tuesday and is now a Category 3 hurricane as it moves away from the southwestern coast of Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center.