 On October 22 , a low pressure area was present south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec , having originated out of an area of disturbed weather in the region the day before . That day , two ships reported gale @-@ force winds , suggesting that a tropical storm formed by 12 : 00 UTC . Moving west @-@ northwestward parallel to the southwest coast of Mexico , the system steadily intensified , reaching hurricane status by late on October 23 . The storm continued to intensify , although there were few ships in the path to record the intensity until October 26 . During that time , interpolation of observations suggests that the storm attained major hurricane intensity – a Category 3 on the modern Saffir @-@ Simpson scale – with winds of 115 mph ( 185 km / h ) on October 25 . 
