The meteorological phenomenon is not ruled out becoming a hurricane, the first of the season, according to the National Meteorological Service.
The National Meteorological Service (SMN) issued an alert on Monday for the formation of a potential tropical cyclone, which would be the first of the 2024 season in the Atlantic Ocean, and which is forecast to make landfall in the early hours of Thursday in Tamaulipas.
The general coordinator of the SMN, Alejandra Méndez Girón, explained in a press conference that until 3:00 p.m., the phenomenon was located over the Gulf of Mexico, “195 kilometers north-northwest of Frontera, Tabasco and 235 kilometers northwest of Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche.”
She explained that tropical storm ‘Alberto’ is expected to intensify on Tuesday afternoon, with winds of 63 to 118 kilometers per hour, whose center will be located approximately 295 kilometers east of the Pánuco River, Veracruz.
She also warned that it is not ruled out that the meteorological phenomenon will become a hurricane, the first of the season.
In addition to the fact that “the wide circulation” of ‘Alberto’ will cause very strong rains to intense points in Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo, and very strong rains in Tabasco, San Luis Potosi and Hidalgo.
Then, during the night of Tuesday and the early hours of Wednesday, it is expected that said system will change its displacement towards the west, heading towards the north of Veracruz and Tamaulipas.
“It is expected to make landfall as a tropical storm during the night of Wednesday or tomorrow of Thursday, between the municipalities of Soto la Marina and San Fernando, both in Tamaulipas,” indicated the general coordinator of the SMN.
Once on land, ‘Alberto’ will lose intensity and “in the afternoon of Thursday, it will be located as a tropical depression or remnant low depression in the south of Nuevo Leon and north of San Luis Potosi,” she added.
In addition, the phenomenon will leave intense to torrential rains in Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, Querétaro, Hidalgo, Puebla and Veracruz, which could cause landslides, floods and rises in dams, rivers and streams.
Méndez Girón also warned of possible waterspouts on the coasts of Tamaulipas and Veracruz, for which reason he called on maritime vessels to take extreme precautions.
Likewise, the National Coordination of Civil Protection recommended that citizens not leave their homes if they live in an area that has previously been flooded or is considered at risk, mainly due to unstable slopes, as well as evacuate to temporary shelters set up by the authorities.
The announcement of ‘Alberto’ comes after last season’s Hurricane Otis wreaked havoc in late October 2023 in Guerrero, being the strongest hurricane ever recorded to make landfall in the eastern Pacific.
Source; forbes
