Hurricane Earl has weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall in Belize early Thursday as a Category 1 hurricane. As it crossed northern Guatemala, Earl had sustained winds near 50 miles per hour (80 kph).
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The outer bands of Earl could hit Honduras on Tuesday night.
At 7 a.m., Earl was about 90 miles west of Belize City.
Rainfall: Earl is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 8 to 12 inches over portions of Belize, Guatemala, and the Mexican states of Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Veracruz through Friday morning.
Mexico has dropped all storm advisories associated with Earl and Belize has downgraded hurricane warnings to tropical storm alerts.
On Wednesday, Earl raked the northern coast of Honduras with heavy rain.
With wind shear not too strong, a moist atmosphere, and the typically warm sea-surface temperatures of the western Caribbean Sea, Earl is expected to continue gaining some strength before landfall either as a strong tropical storm or low-end hurricane.
This would be the first hurricane landfall on the Caribbean side of central America since Category 1 Hurricane Ernesto nearly exactly four years ago.
Interests along the southern Bay of Campeche should monitor the progress of Earl.
Hotels along Belize’s coast and the low-lying islands offshore had already pulled in awnings and beach chairs as the rains from the storm began whipping the coast Wednesday evening. Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula could see storm surge 4 to 6 feet above normal tide.
However, some increase in showers may spread to parts of South Texas this weekend.
Mexico’s government ended storm warnings, and rain-triggered floods or landslides were considered the main risk going forward. Hurricane Earl bore down on the coast of the Caribbean nation of Beli.
National parks were among the other facilities forced to close over the last few days.
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On Sunday, a tropical system that has evolved into tropical storm Earl killed six people and injured 12 in the Dominican Republic.
