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Tropical Depression Three, which formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, became Tropical Storm Cristobal on Tuesday, setting a record and is expected to reach the US by Sunday or Monday.
The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season kicked off early ahead of the official June 1 start date when Tropical Storm Arthur formed on May 16 off of the coast of Florida.
On the second day of the “official” season, June 2, tropical storm Cristobal formed in the Bay of Campeche. Cristobal set a new record for the earliest third storm of a season to form in the Atlantic basin. The previous record was held by tropical storm Colin on June 5, 2016.
Various projections put Cristobal reaching the US Gulf Coast as early as Sunday. However, the storm system is crawling along at about 3 miles per hour with sustained winds of 60 miles per hour. The center of the storm currently was hovering about 25 miles northwest of Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico, as of 7 AM on Wednesday, forecasters said, and about to make landfall.
However, forecasters expect Cristobal to turn east later on Wednesday into Thursday. Next, the storm is projected to move north and back over water through the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday and Friday.
By Saturday, the center of Cristobal is expected to be moving north through the Gulf of Mexico, where a northwest turn is anticipated early Sunday. If Cristobal gains speed, forecasters believe the storm could make landfall on Sunday, but now many are pushing the timeline back to Monday.
Most projections put Cristobal making landfall along the Louisiana coast, with varying degrees of reaching land near Avery Island in New Iberia. However, it is still too early to tell and other forecasts put the storm nearer to the Louisiana/Texas border or even drifting toward the Florida Panhandle.
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If what is already happening in parts of Mexico and Central America, where deadly flooding has occurred, serve as any indication, there is cause for much concern on what the impact of Cristobal could be for the US.
Forecasters believe some portions of Central America and Mexico could receive up to 35 inches of rain, NOLA reported.
The usual risks of tropical storms approaching the US Gulf Coast are high storm surges, heavy rainfall, and damaging tropical-storm-force winds.
However, while the storm may not make landfall until Sunday or Monday, tropical-storm-force winds could begin impacting the coast of Louisiana as early as Saturday, forecasters said.
