Ida to Strengthen into Hurricane Before Threatening Gulf of Mexico
11/7/2009 11:02 AM
Ida has now departed Central America and will continue to regain strength and brush Cancun, Mexico,
over the weekend. People who live along the Gulf coast of the U.S. need to
By Meghan
Evans
AccuWeather.com
Ida has now departed
Central America and will continue to regain strength and brush
Cancun, Mexico, over the weekend. People who live along the Gulf coast of the U.S. need to monitor Ida and one other system that could impact the
region by the middle of next week.
Ida strengthened into a tropical storm early this morning and was already nearing hurricane strength early this afternoon. It is churning over warm
waters of the northwest Caribbean Sea. There is also weak wind shear in the area. Both of these factors favor further strengthening, so Ida is
expected to become a hurricane late this afternoon or tonight.
Meanwhile, Ida's heaviest rain is over for the hard-hit areas of eastern Nicaragua and Honduras, although some showers and thunderstorms will
continue to impact these countries as moisture wraps around the southern edge of Ida through the rest of the weekend.
By Sunday, Ida will be brushing just east of Cancun, Mexico, a major tourist destination located along the eastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula.
Flooding rain and at least tropical storm-force winds could impact Cancun and surrounding areas as well as western portions of Cuba.
The storm will emerge into the
southern Gulf of Mexico by early next week. By Tuesday or Wednesday, Ida will be running into stronger wind shear farther north in the Gulf of Mexico
and could weaken again.
The most likely scenario with Ida's track is that it will be steered northward through Tuesday and then northeast or eastward by Wednesday. This puts
residents of the eastern Gulf coast and Florida at risk.
Another scenario is that the storm may race faster and continue to move northward into the central Gulf coast of the U.S. around midweek.
Whether the system strengthens more or not,
flooding downpours and rough surf will
likely impact some areas along the Gulf coast. If the storm maintains strength or strengthens more, dangers like wind damage and storm surge could
come into play as well.
Another system, located over the western Gulf of Mexico, is not expected to develop tropically. This system will still threaten the western Gulf of
Mexico with flooding rain, gusty winds and big waves on Monday.
The AccuWeather.com
Southwest Regional News story has more on the system in the
western Gulf of Mexico.
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