Ernesto, the second hurricane of the Atlantic season, has made landfall along the southern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula near Mahahual, Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said late Tuesday.

The Category 1 hurricane was located about 40 miles east northeast of Chetumal, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour (140 km per hour), the NHC said.

Cyclones become named tropical storms when their winds reach more than 39 mph. They become hurricanes when winds exceed 74 mph.

(Reporting by Koustav Samanta in Bangalore; Editing by Anand Basu)