Tropical storm Earl is located in the Northwestern Caribbean just North of Honduras this morning at 16.0°N and 83.1°W. Earl is still a tropical storm, albeit a strong one, with a pressure of 989mb and winds of 65mph.
Earl is on the verge of becoming a hurricane and will likely do so later today. The latest satellite and microwave imagery indicate that Earl is trying to develop an eye. This is not unprecedented as the National Hurricane Center is forecasting landfall in Belize as a category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80mph tonight. However, it wouldn’t be surprising if Earl made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 85 – 95mph.
Heavy rainfall, storm surge, and winds will be all be threats within the warned areas depicted in the map below.
Earl is then forecast to briefly re-emerge over the Bay of Campeche on Saturday and could re-strengthen slightly. However, even if that is the case it will move quickly inland again in the Mexican state of Veracruz.
We will have another update out tomorrow.
