NHC: Hurricane John hits Mexico's Pacific coast

One of two storms off Mexico's Pacific coast strengthened into a hurricane Monday afternoon, while forecasters said the other was no longer expected to gain hurricane strength and neither posed an immediate threat to land.

The Met Service said Debby is moving toward the north-northeast at 15 km/h and this general motion is forecast to continue this morning.

A tropical storm watch has been issued for the Big Island of Hawaii as Hurricane Hector on Tuesday kept churning west across the Pacific as a powerful Category 4 hurricane.

At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) on August 6, the center of Tropical Storm John was located near latitude 15.1 North, longitude 107.3 West. John is located about 335 miles (540 km) southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico.

A high surf warning is also in effect for east-facing shores of the Big Island. Those winds can rip apart burgeoning tropical storms.

Hector's center will track about 150 miles south of the Big Island today, then continuing westward, remaining well south of the rest of the Hawaiian Islands through Thursday.

As a precaution, Hawaii County officials closed three beaches on the Big Island, according to Hawaii News Now. The rest of the Atlantic Basin is quiet at this time.

Farther out to sea, a strengthening Hurricane Hector headed for the central Pacific as a Category 4 storm, with winds of 140 miles per hour (220 kph), the Center Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu reported.

Even if El Nino fizzles, said Klotzbach, "we believe that the hurricane-unfavorable conditions in the Atlantic are likely to persist over the next several months". The long-term seasonal averages are 11 named storms, and six hurricanes.