Tropical Storm Javier Forms off of Mexico's Pacific Coast

Tropical Storm Javier formed off of Mexico's Pacific coast on Sunday, unleashing intense winds amid expectations it will churn north toward Baja California and the beach resort of Los Cabos, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

Javier was producing maximum sustained winds of 45 miles per hour (72 km per hour), and was located some 110 miles (177 km) west of the port of Manzanillo.

"The center of (Javier) should pass offshore of the southwest coast of Mexico today, and approach the southern portion of the Baja California peninsula on Monday," the Miami-based center said in a statement.

Javier is expected to produce total rainfall of between 4 inches to 8 inches (10-20 cm) over costal portions of Mexico's Colima, Jalisco, Michoacan and Nayarit states through Tuesday morning, the NHC said.

The latest storm comes just days after now-dissipated Tropical Storm Earl dumped heavy rains over a large swath of eastern Mexico, causing mudslides that have killed 18 people.

Reporting by David Alire Garcia