Ida strengthened back into a tropical storm early on Saturday off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and was moving north toward the Gulf of Mexico, where it could again become a hurricane.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Ida, which had weakened to a depression on Thursday, now carried maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometer per hour and was located about 410 kilometers southwest of Cozumel, Mexico.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for Grand Cayman Island and for the western Cuban province of Pinar del Rio, said the Miami, Florida-based NHC.

Mexico issued a hurricane watch for the Yucatan peninsula from the resort of Tulum to Cabo Catoche, north of Cancun.

Ida, which dumped heavy rain along Nicaragua's Caribbean coast earlier in the week, is expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico Sunday night, by which time it could be reaching hurricane strength, said the NHC.

The Mexican government urged people to avoid unnecessary travel in the Yucatan peninsula and imposed restrictions on coastal shipping.