Juliette becomes major hurricane, still moving away from Mexico coast

<br>MEXICO CITY (AP) _ Hurricane Juliette was growing to enormous proportions on Monday but was moving slowly away from Mexico's vulnerable Pacific coast and was unlikely to approach the United States.

Monday, September 24th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

MEXICO CITY (AP) _ Hurricane Juliette was growing to enormous proportions on Monday but was moving slowly away from Mexico's vulnerable Pacific coast and was unlikely to approach the United States.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported that Juliette had sustained winds of 145 mph, making it a very strong Category 4 hurricane. It was likely to gain even more force later Monday, forecasters said.

The storm was located 275 miles south of Manzanillo and was heading west-northwest at 3 mph. Forecasters said the storm could shift to a more northwest track running parallel to the coast.

Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 60 miles from the center, and tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 160 miles.

A hurricane watch was in effect from Lazaro Cardenas to Cabo Corrientes, a 250-mile stretch of coastline beginning 155 miles north of the resort city of Acapulco.

A smaller hurricane, Kiko, was centered well out to sea, more than 1,200 miles west of Mexico's central Pacific coast. It had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph and was headed toward the west-northwest at about 9 mph.