Tropical Storm Elida formed overnight south of Mexico and is expected to grow into a hurricane later this week before weakening as it heads toward the Central Pacific.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said this morning that the storm had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and was heading west-northwest at 16 mph, centered about 220 miles south of Manzanillo, Mexico.

“Additional strengthening is forecast, and Elida is expected to become a hurricane within the next two days,” forecasters said.

The five-day forecast has the storm peaking as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph Tuesday and Wednesday but dropping back down to tropical storm strength with 40 mph winds Friday, still several hundreds of miles east of the Central Pacific.