Good morning! I just want to sum up Hurricane Alex by the numbers; by any measure, an impressive storm -- but even more impressive for one that made landfall in the waning hours of the month of June! Alex made landfall at about 10 PM last night 110 miles south of Brownsville, Texas, on the northern Mexico coast. At landfall, it was a pretty strong category 2 hurricane -- with wind of 105 mph. Not only was the core of the hurricane strong, but tropical storm force wind affected a huge area; Alex's tropical storm wind field extended out around 200 miles from the center!
On average, we wait until early August for the first hurricane in the Atlantic. This year, we waited until the end of June. Alex was the first June hurricane in the Atlantic since Allison was briefly a hurricane in the Gulf in 1995 (which, as you may remember, was a very active season). Further, at landfall, Alex was the strongest hurricane to occur in June in the Atlantic since Alma in 1966!
Alex is expected to weaken rapidly now over the rugged terrain of northern Mexico, but not before producing significant flooding across both south Texas and Mexico. Elsewhere in the tropics, no developments are imminent as I write this. There are a couple of waves to watch in the central and eastern Atlantic, but high wind shear now is located over a lot of this region north of 10 degrees north. Closer to home, with a front coming into the southeast, the waters offshore the southeast coast will be worth watching over the next few days for the possibility of a "hybrid" system developing. We'll keep you up to date.
Brian
