Hurricane Grace strengthens as it nears Mexico

Hurricane Grace rapidly strengthened into a major Category 3 storm Friday night as it bore down on a second landfall in Mexico, this time taking aim at the Gulf coast after crashing through the country's main tourist strip.

The storm had lost punch as it zipped across the Yucatan Peninsula, but it emerged late Thursday over the relatively warm Gulf of Mexico and began gaining energy.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Grace had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph) late Friday. It was centered about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of Tuxpan and heading west at 10 mph (17 kph).

The hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean lasts from early June to late November.