Storm Newton strengthens to hurricane off Mexico's Pacific coast: NHC

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Newton strengthened into a hurricane on Monday, continuing its trajectory toward the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The storm was about 215 miles (346 km) southeast of the tourist resort of Cabo San Lucas at around 4 p.m. CDT (2100 GMT), with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (121 km), the NHC said. "As a precaution, classes were suspended from this afternoon until tomorrow," a government official in Los Cabos told Reuters. A hurricane warning took effect in the southern part of the Baja California peninsula, where the storm was expected to make landfall on Tuesday morning. Newton, which was moving northwest, could also produce 5 to 10 inches (12.5 to 25 cm) of rain in the states of Colima, Michoacan, Jalisco, Nayarit and Sinaloa, the NHC said. (This version of the story was refiled to fix the storm's name in the lead) (Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz and Natalie Schachar; Editing by G Crosse and Sandra Maler)