Tropical Storm Alex has pulled away from the Yucatan Peninsula and the shallow Gulf of Mexico quickly today. He hasn’t strengthened to hurricane status quite yet, but is close to doing so. At this point, it is unlikely that he will strengthen to major hurricane status prior to landfall.
T.S. Alex’s current position is 22.9N, 93.6W; is moving NW @ 13mph; has sustained winds of 70mph; has a central pressure of 981mb, which is low for a Tropical Storm.
T.S. Alex should continue to turn more westerly through the next couple of days. His official track forecast brings him ashore along the Mexican coast, though the specific landfall keeps moving north with successive model forecasts.
T.S. Alex should keep strengthening over the next day, prior to landfall, making hurricane strength later today but not quite getting to Category 2 status. Thus, he should make landfall as a Category 1 hurricane somewhere in northeastern Mexico.
Storm surge is already impacting the Gulf coast of the U.S. with <3′ surge along the LA coast and increasing to 3-6′ surges further south along the TX coast.
