Tropical storm Ernesto strengthened in the western Caribbean Sea yesterday and was forecast to smack into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula as a hurricane, US forecasters said.
Ernesto had top sustained winds of 100km/h) at midday and was expected to cross the 119km/h threshold to become a hurricane by last night.
The Mexican government issued a hurricane warning for parts of the Yucatan’s east coast. Hurricane and tropical storm watches and warnings were in effect for other parts of the Yucatan and the coasts of Honduras, the Bay Islands and Belize.
Ernesto was about 305km east-northeast the Nicaragua-Honduras border.
“On the forecast track, the centre will be passing north of the coast of Honduras and Tuesday and approach the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula early Wednesday,” forecasters at the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said yesterday.
The forecasters expect Ernesto to move into the southern part of the Gulf of Mexico by Thursday. – (Reuters)