HOUSTON – The fifth named storm of the 2016 hurricane season formed in the Caribbean late Tuesday morning.
As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, Tropical Storm Earl had sustained winds of 45 miles per hour. It is moving west, into the western Caribbean, at 22 miles per hour.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Earl is forecast to track toward Belize in Central America before crossing the Yucatan Peninsula. Eventually, a second landfall is expected in south-central Mexico.
Tropical storm warnings were issued for a large swath of eastern Central America and the southern portion of the Yucatan.
Forecasters said they do not expect Earl to reach hurricane strength. That means the three-year drought of hurricane activity in the Gulf of Mexico will likely continue.
While no significant impacts from Earl are expected in the Houston-area, forecasters said the storm could sling enough moisture into southeast Texas to produce rain early next week.
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