MEXICO CITY (AP) — Tropical Storm Barbara gradually weakened as it continued heading northwest away from land Monday evening after strengthening to a hurricane earlier in the day. The storm marked the first of the eastern Pacific hurricane season.

Barbara was a tropical storm in the North Pacific Ocean early Monday Mountain time, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory. The tropical storm had sustained wind speeds of 70 miles per hour.

The storms are expected to become weaker in the coming days, but another tropical depression is forecasted to form later in the week.