Mexico City - As Tropical Storm Andres approached on the Pacific, the Mexican government Tuesday issued its first hurricane warning of the season.

According to the Miami-based US National Hurricane Centre, the storm - which was about 110 kilometres south of the southwestern Mexican port of Manzanillo on Tuesday
- was forecast to grow into a hurricane Tuesday. Measures were implemented to protect the population in coastal areas.

Andres emerged in the early hours of Monday on the Pacific, near the Mexican coast. It is the first tropical storm of the season.

Experts noted that the storm got stronger Monday and in the early hours of Tuesday, with maximum sustained winds of up to 110 kilometres per hour and higher gusts. If maximum sustained winds reached 120 kilometres per hour, it would become a hurricane.

Andres was moving northwest at 19 kilometres per hour and could hit Mexico's mainland. Rain was expected in the Mexican states of Guerrero, Colima, Michoacan and Jalisco.(dpa)