By Ileana Morales, Times Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Paula strengthened to become a Category 1 hurricane early Tuesday morning.
Bay News 9 meteorologist Juli Marquez said the center of the storm is about 230 miles southeast of Cozumel, Mexico (map below).
Paula, the season's 16th named storm and the ninth hurricane, is not expected to threaten the Tampa Bay area, Marquez said.
There is a hurricane warning for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula as the storm moves in tonight and Wednesday. Over the next few days, heavy rain is expected in parts of Mexico, Cuba and Belize.
Some projections show the storm heading past Cuba and up toward south Florida, but Marquez said it looks more likely that Hurricane Paula will stay south of there.