Press "Enter" to skip to content

Hurricane watch in effect for Cancun, Riviera Maya with the anticipated development of Helene

Riviera Maya, Q.R. — The National Hurricane Centre (NOAA) has issued a hurricane watch and tropical storm warning for Riviera Maya north including Cancun and its surrounding areas.

The advisory was issued Monday morning with the further development of a disturbance that has been meandering in the Caribbean Sea for several days. The disturbance, according to the NOAA earlier Monday, had become better organized and was expected to develop further.

Tropical Storm Helene is likely to emerge in coming hours before quickly taking on hurricane status as she passes between the Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba tomorrow evening. During that passage, Quintana Roo coastal areas from Riviera Maya north have been put on alert.

This is the same disturbance that Quintana Roo Civil Protection issued a torrential rain alert for Saturday. At the time, the state agency anticipated three days of possible heavy rain as the disturbance crossed over the Peninsula into the Gulf of Mexico, however, that disturbance has since taken on a new trajectory.

According to AccuWeather, residents in the Florida Panhandle, Big Bend region and much of the eastern Gulf coast are expected to be effected by the storm as it makes U.S. landfall as a likely category 3 hurricane sometime Thursday, the strongest to hit the U.S. this season.

However, Monday evening, the NOAA updated that potential hurricane status to “major” as it approaches the northeastern Gulf. It’s current trajectory could see it make landfall along the Florida Panhandle and Florida west coast.

As it nears the Gulf, “the disturbance is forecast to intensify and be near hurricane strength when it reaches the far northwestern Caribbean Sea,” passing the Quintana Roo coast Tuesday night. The NOAA says hurricane conditions are possible as it passes Riviera Maya and Cancun.

The system, forecast to become Helene later today, is producing “showers and thunderstorms that are gradually becoming better organized in association with a broad area of low pressure located over the northwestern Caribbean Sea,” the NOAA reported Monday morning.

“Environmental conditions appear favorable for further development of this system. A tropical depression or storm is likely to form within the next day as the system moves northward across the northwestern Caribbean Sea and into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, where additional development is expected.

Cancun and Riviera Maya are likely to feel the effects of Helene as she passes the Yucatan Peninsula heading for the U.S. Tuesday.
Image. AccuWeather

“Regardless of development, this system is expected to produce heavy rains over portions of Central America during the next several days. Interests in the northwestern Caribbean, the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, and western Cuba should closely monitor the progress of this system, as watches or warnings will likely be required for portions of these areas.

“Later this week, the system is forecast to move generally northward across the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and interests along the northern and northeastern Gulf Coast should also closely monitor the progress of this system.”