Tropical Storm Cristobal strengthens in Gulf of Mexico
Tropical Storm Cristobal officially became the third named storm of the 2020 hurricane season on Tuesday.
The National Hurricane Center sent a special advisory at 12:15 p.m. EDT with the declaration that Tropical Depression Three had strengthened with maximum winds just over the threshold for tropical storm strength at 40 mph with higher gusts.
By 8 p.m. the storm grew slightly hitting 45 mph located 50 miles northwest of Cuidad del Carmen and moving south at 3 mph.
The storm is the first to form after the official start of hurricane season which runs June 1-Nov. 30, but it’s the third storm of 2020 as two previous systems formed in May, Tropical Storms Arthur and Bertha, both of which had a hand in drenching Florida during their formation.
Tropical Storm Cristobal actually formed out of the remnants of another storm, Tropical Storm Andrea, which grew in the eastern Pacific before crossing Central America over the weekend and dumping torrential amounts of rain, which it continued to do as a reformed tropical depression and now as a new tropical storm.
It grew overnight from 30 to 35 mph Tuesday morning before achieving tropical storm strength. It’s expected to turn toward the southeast and east Tuesday night and today before turning northnortheast and north on Thursday night and Friday.
The track moves it inland over eastern Mexico on today night and back over the Bay of Campeche Thursday night and Friday.
Farther out, forecast models predict it will be sucked farther north with Tuesday evening’s intensity forecast showing it growing into a strong tropical storm with 65 mph winds and 75 mph gusts parked south of Louisiana by Sunday afternoon.
“This thing ultimately is going to send a lot of rain, a lot of moisture toward the Southeast,” said FOX 35 meteorologist Jayme King. “Obviously this includes Florida. So again a super soaker type scenario looks likely to develop slowly but surely.”
There is a chance, though, the system could break apart as it interacts with the land mass around Mexico where it’s expected to drop 10 to 20 inches of rain with some pockets with 25 inches.
“Deadly flooding has already been occurring in portions of Guatemala and El Salvador,” said National Hurricane Center senior hurricane specialist Stacy Stewart. “The depression is expected to bring heavy rainfall to portions of southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, which could cause life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides.”
A Tropical Storm Warning has been issued by the government of Mexico from Campeche west to Puerto de Veracruz.
The amount of rain this storm has already produced in Central America has brought heavy flooding across parts of Central America, when it was
Tropical Storm Amanda, formed out of what forecasters dubbed a Central America gyre, a system that is in some models expected to join back up with the current tropical system.
See updated forecast track models at orlandosentinel.com/weather/ hurricane/forecast-tracks/
The 2020 hurricane season names are: Arthur , Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo, Hanna, Isaias, Josephine, Kyle, Laura, Marco, Nana, Omar, Paulette, Rene, Sally, Teddy, Victy and Wilfred.
More hurricane coverage at OrlandoSentinel.com/ hurricane.