Tropical Storm Grace has changed course: they expect it to make landfall in the Yucatan Peninsula

After having whipped the Dominican Republic and Haiti with its cloud bands, Tropical Storm Grace has slightly altered its course and now, instead of crossing the island of Cuba, everything indicates that the system will advance towards the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, where it will make landfall at dawn on Thursday, August 19.

This was announced by the National Meteorological Service (NMS), which warned in its report that Grace’s effects will begin to be felt. in southeastern Mexico from this Wednesday. Also from Quintana Roo, the head of state government, Carlos Joaquín, issued a statement.

“It is expected that [Grace] enter the Yucatan Peninsula as a tropical storm or hurricane Wednesday night or early Thursday. We maintain permanent surveillance, ”said the governor.

Early this Tuesday August 17, Grace is located 265 kilometers east of Jamaica, and 1,240 kilometers east-southeast of the coasts of Quintana Roo. In this Mexican state, the national climate agency has activated a watch notice due to hurricane effects, which includes from Cabo Catoche to Punta Allen.

The cyclone records maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour, with more intense gusts of 85 kilometers per hour. It is moving west towards Mexico and at the moment it is expected to enter the national territory as a tropical storm, although it is possible that it will do so as a Category 1 hurricane on the ‘Saffir-Simpson scale.

Grace’s career

Over the past few hours Grace has changed course and now it seems like the system will approach the Yucatan Peninsula.

According to the SMN, the storm is located this Tuesday very near Jamaica, east of the small Caribbean island. Its center will not touch the land in this country, but will move by sea towards the west, approaching the southeast of Mexico.

Grace will be in the water until the early hours of Thursday, August 19, when will impact the Yucatan Peninsula. Although meteorologists believe the system will hit land in the form of a tropical storm, it is possible to achieve hurricane strength, with winds of up to 140 kilometers per hour.

According to scientists’ estimates, this will not be the only impact. Grace will cross the states of Quintana Roo and Yucatán and on the same Thursday, around noon, she will travel to the Gulf of Mexico. Then it will continue its journey across the sea and on August 21 it will hit Veracruz, with winds that could also be hurricanes. From this moment, he will move by land towards the interior of the Republic.

Thus, the cyclone should strike two hits on the national territory. From Wednesday, it will cause heavy rains, strong gusts of wind and high waves, the population is therefore urged to keep abreast of the information published by the state civil protection agencies.

The SMN also reported that on Wednesday evening he had been trained tropical storm Henri, approximately 215 kilometers south of the Bermuda Islands.

Grace is the seventh named system to form during the 2021 Atlantic tropical cyclone season, following storms Ana, Bill, Claudette, Danny, Fred and Hurricane Elsa.

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