South Texas will likely see storm surge and heavy rainfall as well as some potential weak tornadoes as Hurricane Beryl approaches the coast.
Hurricane Beryl is expected to enter the southwest Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm by Friday or Saturday, Cory Mottice, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Corpus Christi, said.
It is uncertain where the exactly the storm will make landfall and how strong it will be, Mottice said.
鈥淚t really depends on just how much of the Yucatan Peninsula that it actually moves across,鈥 Mottice said. 鈥淚f that northward, northwestward turn is going to happen this weekend, then we鈥檙e looking at a potential landfall somewhere along maybe the South Texas coastline on Sunday,鈥 Mottice said.
Hurricane Beryl has been gradually weakening because of winds and dust. However, Beryl is expected to remain a hurricane for the next three days before reaching the Yucatan Peninsula. As of Tuesday, there was considerable uncertainty in Beryl鈥檚 track and intensity after it enters the Gulf of Mexico on Friday although it was still too early to determine direct impacts to South Texas, according to a press release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting increasing swells, resulting in an increased rip current risk and coastal flooding this weekend into early next week.
Hurricane Beryl formed in the south central Atlantic Ocean and made landfall Monday morning across portions of the Windward Islands as a Category 4 hurricane, Mottice said.
Late Monday night and into early Tuesday morning, Hurricane Beryl reached its peak intensity as a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds around 160 miles per hour, but has now begun to weaken, Mottice said.
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