Tropical Storm Javier Live Tracker: Projected Path Latest Map (Live Video Updates, Photos)
Tropical Storm Javier to bring storm-strength winds, flooding and mudslides in the coastlines and mountainsides of Mexico.
Tropical Storm Javier has developed Sunday morning near the Pacific coastline of Mexico. The storm is expected to move closer in the next few days. Javier was able to form quickly from the fragments of Hurricane Earl which has plowed through Belize, Mexico and Honduras last week.
Javier may also be able to pull moisture northward into the Southwest part of the U.S. in the next days. Residents along the coastline of Mexico and nearby areas should expect strong winds, high surf and heavy rain as Javier makes landfall.
Warnings set up and projected path
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Tropical storm warnings have been set up for the mainland of Mexico's Pacific coast as well as southern Baja California. Javier was last spotted around 250 miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Sunday evening, the storm was seen moving west-northwest.
The National Hurricane Center said that there is a large amount of warm water and land interaction that will hinder Javier from becoming a large storm. Javier will move along the southern Baja California peninsula by late Monday night till morning Tuesday.
Javier to bring heavy rain and floods
Javier will have storm-force winds of 39 to 73 mph with gustiness of 46 mph along Manzanillo. The storm will also bring bigger threats of heavy rain and flooding in the affected areas.
An expected 4 to 8 inches of rainfall could hit Western areas of the following Mexican states: Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit and Michoacan plus the southern areas of Baja California Sur. Local heavy rain could cause flooding in some parts of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico because of an increase in tropical moisture that is pulled towards western part of the U.S.
There is an increased likelihood of flooding and mudslides along the mountain areas of Sinaloa and Durango. Rainfall in the area will be as much as 200 mm or 8 inches resulting in a downpour along the western slopes of the mountains. Javier will reduce strength and eventually become a tropical depression by the middle of the week.
How Hurricane Earl remnants helped form Javier
NOAA's Hurricane Research Division said that remnants of past storms causing the formation of new ones are very common. The most recent occurrence was in October 2014 when Tropical Storm Trudy struck Mexico. Trudy left huge amounts of moisture that dissipated along the mountains of southern Mexico. The moisture and spin gave rise to a tropical depression called Hanna which made landfall along the Honduras-Nicaragua boarder.
