MEXICO CITY, Aug 2, (AP): Hurricane Gil was continuing to churn in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Saturday but is not expected to threaten land and is likely to decrease in strength rapidly over the weekend, forecasters said. The Miami-based US National Hurricane Center said the storm was about 1,160 miles (1,865 kilometers) west-southwest of the Baja California peninsula of Mexico.

Gil had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 20 mph (31 kph). No coastal watches or warnings were in effect. "Weakening is forecast to begin Saturday, and Gil is likely to become post-tropical as early as Sunday," the NHC said.

It is a busy period for storms in the eastern Pacific. Another named storm, Iona, which also was once a hurricane, was downgraded from a tropical storm to a tropical depression as it moved far to the west of Hawaii. It, too, was not threatening land. Other storms could develop in the coming days in the eastern Pacific, forecasters said.