Alex approaching the coast

At 4:00 PM CDT, Hurricane Alex was located near 24.4N/96.8W, or about 105 miles southeast of Brownsville, Texas and about 50 miles east of the coast of Mexico. Maximum sustained winds are near 90 mph. Alex has been moving to the west around 12mph. After taking a jog towards the north-northwest this afternoon it looks like the upper level ridge is now influencing the cyclone and Alex is expected to continue moving west until landfall which could be in the next couple of hours.

Alex continues to have a very organized appearance on the latest high res visible sat imagery with a very well defined but small eye emerging as he nears the coast. Surface pressure has dropped once again and is currently at 959mb so it looks like Alex is really trying to complete the eye-wall replacement cycle which began late this morning. Latest radar data shows that the cyclone is once again developing a well defined inner eye which could mean that it is just about finished with the replacement cycle and a further increase in surface wind speeds are possible before landfall. Alex remains a very large storm with tropical storm force winds extending out up to 200 miles from the center. It looks like however, that the sustained hurricane force winds should remain south of the Brownsville area.

Local radars continue to show showers moving inland from the gulf as deep tropical moisture remains in place across the area. Rain chances will remain high through the weekend and even deeper moisture arrives later tonight. Locally heavy rainfall will remain the main threat; however there could be a very isolated tornado in any of the heavier convective bands that might develop and push onshore. Widespread 1-2 inches of rain with isolated 2-4 inches seem like a good bet through Friday evening.

KBRO Radar


KBRO Storm Total Precip