MIAMI – U.S. forecasters said Miriam has strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane well off Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Miriam is packing top sustained winds of 165 kilometres an hour, making it what’s classified as a major hurricane.

The hurricane formed a day earlier in the eastern Pacific and was centred about 655 kilometres south-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja peninsula.

The centre said Miriam was moving northwest at 19 kilometres an hour. No coastal watches or warnings are in effect, but swells will hit Baja’s southern and western shore during the next couple of days.

In the open Atlantic, Tropical Storm Nadine was meandering far from land with top sustained winds of about 85 kilometres an hour.