Tropical Storm Frank became a hurricane far off Mexico's Pacific coast on Tuesday, the fifth to form in July and the most on record for that month, the US National Hurricane Center said.

At 1500 GMT, Frank was 715 kilometers (445 miles) west-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, a popular tourist destination, the center said in a bulletin.

The hurricane was packing maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers (75 miles) per hour, but the center's forecast map shows that it will weaken and continue to move away from the coast in the coming days.

The previous record was four hurricanes in July, which was set in five other years, the hurricane center said.