PAULINE PICKS UP POWER AS IT NEARS MEXICAN COAST.

Byline: Associated Press 

Hurricane Pauline rumbled toward Mexico's southern Pacific resort coast Tuesday, packing sustained winds of 120 mph after gaining surprising strength from warm waters.

In two days, Pauline has grown from a tropical storm to an extremely strong hurricane, bordering on a category 4 storm out of a possible 5 on the scale used by the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

``This is a very dangerous hurricane. This is the real thing, and I don't see anything to make Pauline weaken before it hits the coast,'' said forecaster Max Mayfield at the center in Miami.

At 5 p.m. PDT, Pauline's eye was about 140 miles south-southeast of Puerto Angel on the Oaxaca state coast and was moving northwest.

Earlier the storm had packed 130 mph sustained winds, but forecasters said fluctuations were to be expected as Pauline lumbered toward landfall.

Hurricane-force winds spread out up to 35 miles from the eye, and tropical storm force winds extended outward up to 115 miles, with gusts higher than 130 mph reported.

Sixteen-foot seas were reported close to the storm as ports shut along a three-state stretch of coastline, idling thousands of fishing boats. By Tuesday afternoon, gusting winds swayed palm trees and drove a steady rain over Huatulco, this resort jutting from Oaxaca state's rocky coast.

Huatulco's port of Santa Cruz was closed to small craft, but in the towns along the neighboring bays, people didn't seem overly concerned about the storm.