Ida is a hurricane, brushing the northeastern tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsulatoday.Ida gained hurricane strength by late Saturday after it emerged north ofHonduras into the western Caribbean early in the morning. Atmosphericconditions are favorable for Ida to continue to strengthen further into acategory 2 storm for a time today.
Ida is passing just east of the resort cities of Cancun and Cozumel today. Itis bringing hurricane-force winds to these cities. Heavy rain is alsoinundating these areas. In fact, pouring rain started to fall across Cancunearly on Saturday. Flooding is likely.
Western Cuba will also get hit hard as Ida passes. Hurricane conditions arepossible across the western tip of the island nation. Havana, Cuba, should notexperience hurricane conditions. But flooding is a big concern for Cuba'scapital.
After affecting Cancun and western Cuba, Ida will enter the southern Gulf ofMexico. It will experience colder water and increasing wind shear by late onMonday into Tuesday. So it will probably weaken. Residents on the central andeastern Gulf Coast should pay close attention to the latest updates on Ida.
Click here for the latest on Ida.
Story by Accuweather.com Senior Meteorologist Dave Samuhel
