Mexico watches both its coasts by Steph Ball
Mexico is keeping a watchful eye on two storms which look likely to threaten both its coasts over the next few days.
The first, Tropical Storm Marco, is lying off Mexico’s Gulf Coast on Tuesday morning with winds near 65mph (100 km/h). Marco is a very small tropical storm which developed quickly in the Bay of Campeche on Monday and became the thirteenth storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has issued a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch for the Gulf Coast of Mexico from Cabo Rojo southward to Veracruz. Tropical Storm Marco is expected to make landfall later today with hurricane conditions possible. It is forecast to bring up to 150mm (6 inches) of rain.
Meanwhile off Mexico’s west coast, Norbert strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane on Monday and became the seventh hurricane of the east Pacific season. Winds this morning are near 75mph (120 km/h).
The latest NHC forecast indicates that Norbert could make landfall on the southern Baja Peninsula during Saturday. However hurricane forecasts are unpredictable and the Mexican government will be watching this closely over the next few days
