EFE.- Hurricane Grace, which will make landfall tonight on the Mexican mainland, strengthened as it advanced through the Gulf of Mexico and is already a Category 2 cyclone, while Tropical Storm Henri is about to become a hurricane heading for the coast of New England or Long Island, in the United States.
In both Mexico and the United States, large coastal areas are under hurricane warning.
In Grace’s case, the hurricane warning (passing between 12 and 24 hours) goes from Puerto Veracruz to Cabo Rojo, on the mainland, and there is another tropical storm warning from the north of Cabo Rojo to Barra del Tordo.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) indicated in its 19:00 CDT (00:00 GMT) bulletin that Grace was located 170 km east of Tuxpan, in Mexico, and also 170 km northeast of Veracruz, on the mainland. Both cities.
Grace made landfall off the Yucatan coast on Thursday, weakened and then regained strength as it passed over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico on its way to the mainland.
GRACE, THE FIRST CATEGORY 2 HURRICANE IN THE ATLANTIC
At that time, Category 2 hurricane Grace had maximum sustained winds of 150 km / h and was moving west with a travel speed of 17 km / h.
The system is expected to maintain this general westward movement until it makes landfall.
According to the forecast trajectory, the center of Grace will move this afternoon and night through the southwestern Gulf of Mexico and “will make landfall along the coast of continental Mexico,” meteorologists said.
A further “strengthening” of Grace is still anticipated until it makes landfall followed by a “rapid weakening” as it moves towards the mountains of central Mexico.
Heavy rains are expected in Veracruz, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, northern Querétaro and eastern San Luis de Potosí with isolated totals of up to 18 inches in some areas through Sunday.
The “heavy rains” caused by Grace, the second hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season and the first to move to Category 2, is likely to cause flash floods and dangerous landslides.
Strong swells and storm surges are also expected to affect the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend.
The “dangerous” storm surge will increase sea levels to 1.20-1.80 meters above normal levels in the hurricane warning area.
HENRI, ABOUT TO BECOME A HURRICANE
Meanwhile, the United States issued a hurricane and storm surge warning for New York and the New England coast on Friday in light of the advance of Tropical Storm Henri, which has strengthened in the Atlantic and is about to become a cyclone heading to the southern New England.
Henri had maximum sustained winds of 110 km / h and was about 435 km south-southeast of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina and 1,160 km south of Montauk Point in New York.
It is moving north-northwest with a travel speed of 10 km / h and, according to the most recent NHC forecast, it is expected to “make landfall on Long Island or southern New England on Sunday.”
Forecasters predict Henri to strengthen in the next 24 hours and become a hurricane tonight or Saturday, and be close to being a hurricane when it hits Long Island (southeastern New York State) or southern New England.
NHC meteorologists detailed that there is a hurricane warning for the south coast of Long Island (New York), from Fire Island Inlet to Montauk Point, as well as for the north coast, from Port Jefferson Harbor to Montauk Point.
Also from New Haven (Connecticut) to west of Watch Hill (Rhode Island), as detailed in the latest NHC bulletin.
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There is also a storm surge warning on the south shore of Long Island, from Mastic Beach to Montauk Point, and on the north shore, from Oyster Bay to Montauk Point, and from Greenwich, Connecticut, to Chatham, Massachusetts, including Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and Block Island.
The areas under notice by Henri can suffer a storm surge, with up to 1.50 meters of rise in sea level in some points of the coast.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts that the current Atlantic hurricane season will have above-average activity.
So far this year, two hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic basin, Grace and Elsa, this second at the beginning of last July.
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