Vacationers Warned to Hunker Down as Hurricane Grace Roars Ashore

The vacation destination known as Cozumel Mexico is under the gun this morning. The center of Hurricane Grace is passing just south of the popular island destination as it appears poised to make landfall along the Mayan Riveria over the next few hours.

The 0400 CD Advisory from the National Hurricane Center found that the center of Hurricane Grace was just hours away from landfall on the Mexican mainland. The storm's center was located just 25 scant miles southeast of Tulum.

The storm had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and was moving to the west at 17 mph. At that rate, the worst of the weather will be crossing the coast within the next several hours.

Forecasters believe Hurricane Grace will spend less than 24 hours on land as it moves rapidly westward across the Yucatan. Speculation is that the storm will weaken to tropical storm status by the time it exits the coast and moves into the Bay of Campeche. From there, forecast models suggest that Grace will continue to move westward and make a second landfall on the Mexican mainland.

Meanwhile, Henri remains a tropical storm as it is located well south and west of the island of Bermuda. Forecasters believe Henri will reach hurricane status by tomorrow afternoon. The system is forecast to drift slowly westward before making a turn to the north and eventually the northeast.

This should keep Henri well offshore and only affect the eastern seaboard of the United States with high waves and the threat of rip currents. Although the western edge of the storm could come very close to Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

Elsewhere, the tropical Atlantic Basin is quiet and expected to remain that way for the next five days.