MEXICO CITY – Tropical storm Elida strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane Monday but moved farther away from Mexico's Pacific coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Elida, the second eastern Pacific hurricane of the season, was carrying maximum sustained winds of 80 mph with higher gusts, and a slight increase in strength was possible in the coming days, the NHC said in its latest advisory.

Elida was centered at a safe distance of about 385 miles southwest of Cabo Corrientes in Mexico, or about 485 miles south of the tip of the Baja California peninsula, which is popular with tourists.

The hurricane is moving westerly, away from Mexico, at around 14 mph and this motion is expected to continue over the next couple of days, the forecasters said.

Category 1 is the lowest level on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale.

Two weeks ago, tropical storm Boris briefly became a hurricane far out in the Pacific west of Mexico.

(Reporting by Tomas Sarmiento and Catherine Bremer, editing by Jackie Frank)