A hurricane warning is in effect from Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico, southward to the border between Belize and Guatemala.
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The center of Earl was located about 250 miles east-southeast of Belize City, Belize, Wednesday morning.
Maximum sustained winds have increased to 70 miles per hour, with higher gusts.
Wednesday morning, Earl had top sustained winds of 70 miles per hour, gusting at 75 miles per hour, and is expected to make landfall as a Category 1 Hurricane in the afternoon. It is expected to produce 8 to 12 inches of rain over portions of Belize, Honduras, Guatemala and the Yucatan Peninsula through Thursday. Rainfall totals this high could of course result in life-threatening flash floods and mud slides. Strengthening is forecast and Earl could be near hurricane strength as it approaches Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula.
Honduras today issued a red alert for its Bay Islands, popular with tourists in the Caribbean, as Tropical Storm Earl bore down on Central America.
Higher elevations in Belize and Honduras are expected to cause weakening of tropical storm Earl’s winds and Earl will likely be downgraded to a tropical storm soon after landfall.
It happened about a month ahead of schedule, but a disturbance in the Caribbean earned a name Tuesday, becoming this year’s fifth tropical storm in the Atlantic Basin.
Forecast models are unsure what the strength of the storm will be when it reaches parts of Mexico later this week. Not all of these storms technically made landfall in Belize, but they came ashore close enough that the country experienced major hurricane conditions.
Heavy rain and gusty winds are expected in Honduras. “Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large and damaging winds”. The company, which produced 2.18 million barrels of oil a day during the second quarter, said it’s monitoring Earl’s progress.
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Check back for continued updates on this storm system.
