Tropical Storm Blas Forms off Coast of Southern Mexico

Tropical Depression 02E has been upgraded to a tropical storm, which is now named Tropical Storm Blas. As of 8:59 PM UTC, Blas was located at 14.8 degrees North and 102 degrees West moving toward the north at 5 mph. Per the NHC’s national advisories, the winds of tropical storm Blas is 45 mph, and its pressure of it is 1000 MB. Right now Blas is located 242 miles away from Acapulco, 248 miles away from Zihuatanejo, and 267 miles away from Lázaro Cárdenas.

No warnings are currently in affect regarding Tropical Storm Blas, as the system is out to sea.

There are no coastal warnings in effect, however, there may be soon after the next complete advisory at 10:00 pm CDT. The NHC’s Cone Forecast, shows that Blas is moving north with a slight northwest trend. Looking at sea surface temperatures, the ongoing intensification of Blas shows the temperatures in the Eastern Pacific are not an issue, as the sea surface temperatures in the region are about 30 degrees Celsius or warmer. Looking at the hazards affecting land that Blas may pose, swells made by Blas may potentially reach the coasts of Southwestern Mexico late today, which could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.

Analyzing the model intensity guidance shows that the HWFI model calls Tropical Storm Blas to be a Category 3 Hurricane, and the HMNI calls Blas a Category 2 Hurricane while others call this storm system a Category 1 or a Tropical Storm. For the Satellite Imagery, we could see Blas moving northbound, approaching the coasts of Southwest Mexico. Furthermore, we also see Blas intensifying into a category 1 hurricane, as we may expect this storm system to intensify even more. For visible imagery, we could see that this tropical storm is curling north, as we barely see the eye of this storm system. That’s all for our update on Tropical Storm Blas, and stay tuned to another article update on Tropical Storm Blas tomorrow.

Current model intensity guidance for Tropical Storm Blas with the 18z update, showcasing a likely Category 1 peak.

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