Mudslides Triggered By Hurricane Earl Kill Dozens of Mexicans

Destruction from the rains of Hurricane Earl in
Mexico. Photo by Kirsten Luce/NYT  

Hurricane Earl smashed ashore in Belize late last week, causing quite a bit of damage in that small nation's capital city.

But Earl's deadliest swipe came further north, in the southern reaches of Mexico, where incredible rains unleashed huge mudslides that swept into villages.

At least 38 people died in the mudslides, but the thinking is the death toll will rise as more bodies are discovered.

Some areas in Mexico had a month's worth of rain in five hours, and whole mountainsides seemed to shear off during the mudslides, the New York Times said.

Flooding from dying hurricanes moving inland is a real hazard. Often, these floods are the worst aspect of a hurricane or tropical storm.

We've seen that locally in Vermont. Hurricane Irene was kind of bad, but not extreme as it swiped North Carolina and the coastlines of New Jersey and Long Island.

But when the decaying hurricane moved inland, it caused record, devastating floods in central and northern New York, and across most of Vermont. 

Hurricane season in the Atlantic is heading into peak season. There's no immediate signs of anything forming, but Earl and Irene prove that you should worry about hurricanes even if you live nowhere near the coast.

We're Likely To See Tropical Storm Earl Any Minute Now

This storminess south of Hispaniola today
is likely to strengthen into Tropical Storm
Earl later today or tonight. 

Last week I said the tropical Atlantic was getting active, and sure enough, a new tropical storm looks like it will get going any minute now.

One of the weather disturbances that I said was way out over the central Atlantic raced westward and now it's in the western Caribbean already and is approaching Jamaica. 

It's pretty well organized and getting more organized, but doesn't yet have a full, circular wind pattern that you need to declare this a tropical storm.

Still, winds are running at 40 to 45 mph north of the storm's center, says the National Hurricane Center.

The weather system's circulation will probably become whole later today and tonight, and that will mean we'll have Tropical Storm Earl.

Wannabe Earl will probably keep zipping along on a generally westbound direction and will threaten Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Belize and/or Guatemala later in the week.

Earl could easily strengthen into a nasty hurricane by the time it reaches Mexico or Central America. Upper air patterns favor strengthening, and the ocean water in the path of Wannabe Earl is at near record highs.

In general, the warmer the water, the more likely it is for  a tropical storm or hurricane to strengthen.

Stay tuned!