Hurricane Grace Heading to Yucatan Peninsula

We are well within the hurricane season and today, we have an update on Tropical Storm Grace, which has upgraded to a category one hurricane earlier today.  The projection is that the storm, which is barrelling towards the Yucatan Peninsula, will make landfall north in Mexico.  Today, News Five spoke with Chief Meteorologist Ronald Gordon who says that contrary to false reports that were circulating on social media, the system is not making its way to Belize.

Ronald Gordon

Ronald Gordon, Chief Meteorologist, National Meteorological Service

“Hurricane Grace was centred near latitude 19.6 degrees north and longitude 83.0 degrees west with maximum sustained winds of seventy-five miles per hour. Grace was moving to the west northwest at fifteen miles per hour. The forecast is for Grace to continue to a westward to west north westward track during the next twenty-four hours. And eventually make landfall on the Mexican side of the Yucatan peninsula somewhere between Tulum and Playa del Carmen. The system is forecast to make landfall as a category one hurricane of eighty-five miles per hour; however, it could strengthen even further to a weak category two hurricane before landfall. W are not under any warning or alert, any tropical storm or hurricane watches, alert or warnings and that is precisely because the system is forecast to make landfall quite a bit to the north of us. That’s one reason. And the second of course is because we are on the southern side of the system hence we expect conditions not to be as strong as they would be on the north.”