Vance becomes a hurricane as it nears Mexico

Hurricane Vance is expected to steadily intensify in the next 24 hours and turn into a major hurricane by Friday night, according to projections from the National Hurricane Center.

“Swells generated by Vance are expected to begin affecting portions of the coast of southern and southwestern Mexico this weekend and continue into next week,” the hurricane center said in an advisory Friday morning .

“These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” the advisory said.

Vance, which became a hurricane Friday, was a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph and could become a major Category 3 hurricane before the end of Friday, The Associated Press reported.

It could be the seventh major hurricane in a row this year in the Pacific Ocean, following Nolo, Odalys, Polo, Rachel, Simon and Trudy.

The northeastern and central Pacific basins saw a number of powerful storms this year, with at least 20 named storms in the region by Sept. 28, according to a NASA report . Nine of those storms reached hurricane strength.

The intense hurricane season in the Pacific comes as El Niño conditions create unusual weather patterns.

In July, the AP reported that this year’s El Niño had an 81 percent chance of becoming “very strong” by fall, altering weather patterns across the globe.