There is some good news and some bad news out of the tropics early this morning. The bad news is that since we visited yesterday the National Hurricane Center has tracked the landfall of tropical storm Fred, the formation of tropical storm Henri, and the strengthening of now tropical storm Grace.

The good news is that none of those three systems is anticipated to have any effect on Louisiana's coastline. At least, that's the way the current computer forecast models have it all playing out. But, we know those models change often and because of that uncertainty, it's usually a good idea to say in the know when it comes to anything spinning in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Truth be told, we actually have no systems in the Gulf at this time. Fred is in L.A. (Lower Alabama) okay, Georgia now, and Henri is doing donuts around Bermuda. Those two storms are way out of our picture but that still leaves Grace.

During the overnight hours, Grace regained tropical storm status. It now has maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and those winds are expected to get stronger as the system moves away from the Haitian coastline during the day today.

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The center of the system is expected to track between Cuba and Jamaica and over the Cayman Islands over the next few days. By Thursday, Grace could impact the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and by Friday the center of the system should be over the warm waters of the Bay of Campeche.

Forecasters with the National Hurricane Center believe that Grace will reach category 1 hurricane status during the day on Friday. As of now, forecast guidance suggests that the system will make a second Mexican landfall during the late hours of Friday or the early morning hours of Saturday.

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The majority of the tropical tracking models are even suggesting that Grace could slide even further south into Mexico once it crosses the Yucatan. Of course, all of this is speculation since we know that tropical systems tend to go where the wind blows them. Let's just hope that's not an ill wind that will be blowing anything tropical in our direction for the remainder of the 2021 Hurricane Season.

In the meantime, we should grab something to eat while we wait, right?

Louisiana Restaurants Featured on 'Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives'

 

 

 

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