With wind speeds of 110 miles per hour, Hurricane Beryl lashed Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula beginning early Friday, and its outer bands could bring rain and cooler temperatures to the Waco area next week.
While over land in the Yucatan, the storm weakened and the National Hurricane Center in Miami reclassified Beryl as a tropical storm early Friday afternoon. But the system is expected to regain strength when it gets back over warmer-than-typical waters in the Gulf of Mexico and to become a hurricane again.
“Currently we are expecting 1-3 inches of rain next week along with a welcomed cool-off,” Waco-McLennan County Emergency Management Coordinator Ryan Dirker said Friday of impending weather in Waco.
Dirker said he does not expect any problematic impacts on the Greater Waco area, but he and his team are closely monitoring the storm’s approach.
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“If the situation worsens over the next few days we will take appropriate action,” Dirker said.
A few firefighters from Waco and surrounding communities are headed to South Texas to help with the response to a second landfall expected there by Sunday night.
The National Hurricane Center estimated Beryl’s winds at 110 mph when it made its first mainland landfall in the Yucatan Peninsula early Friday, the Weather Channel reported.
In a bulletin at 4 p.m. Friday, the hurricane center said maximum sustained winds were observed at 65 mph, with the storm moving toward the west-northwest at 15 mph. Forecasters expect the center of Beryl to continue moving northwest and reach the Gulf by Friday evening.
A second landfall could be in northeastern Mexico or southern Texas.
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A map shows the National Hurricane Center's projection for Beryl's path across the Gulf of Mexico as of 4 p.m. Friday.
As the wind and rain effects of hurricanes and tropical cyclones spread well ahead of the storm and cut a wide swath across sea and land, Beryl could cause high onshore winds, and in coastal areas increasing surf, rip currents and coastal flooding along parts of the Gulf Coast from eastern Mexico to Texas starting Friday evening, and continuing until just after Beryl’s final landfall, according to The Weather Channel.
The hurricane center expects Beryl will remain east of Waco. Late Friday afternoon, forecasting models projected its center would eventually pass over Hearne, then move toward Palestine and continue toward the juncture of Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, Fort Worth-based weather service meteorologist Matt Bishop said Friday afternoon.
Scattered thunderstorms will accompany a cold front moving across the Central and North Texas regions and passing through Greater Waco Monday night into Tuesday.
“The hurricane to the east of Waco plus the cold front approaching from the west gives decent chances of heavy rain,” Bishop said. “There is also a possibility of a small chance of some river flooding and some isolated flash flooding. There will also be a slightly higher chance of tornadoes.”
An unsettled pattern will maintain daily thunderstorm chances Saturday through Thursday, according to a weather service forecast. The highest storm chances will be Sunday night through Tuesday.
A 30% chance of thunderstorms overnight Friday will increase to 40% Saturday. Lows will be in the mid-70s and highs in the low- to mid-90s through the weekend.
As the week begins, the weather service forecast calls for highs in the 80s to low-90s and lows in the 70s, with a 40% chance of thunderstorms Monday and a 50% chance Tuesday.
The Texas Division of Emergency Management has plans in place to make resources available to local governments, division chief Nim Kidd said in a Friday statement.
“We need a prepared community, not a panicked community,” Kidd said.
Kidd recommended people make sure they have a full tank of gas along with food and water on hand.
Four firefighters and one engine from Waco will be sent to South Texas, said Patrick Veselka, the Waco Fire Department’s deputy chief of emergency operations.
They will join a standard fire engine from Morgan’s Point and four firefighters from Temple. They all will join with a group of first responders heading out of the Austin area to South Texas, said Robby Bergerson, Waco’s executive deputy fire chief.
The initial length for these types of deployments, which are also sometimes coordinated for wildfire responses, is 14 days, but the timeline can be adjusted depending on events and circumstances.