Lisa intensifies into 6th Atlantic hurricane of 2022 as it eyes Central America
Lisa has intensified into a hurricane, the sixth of the 2022 season in the Atlantic, over the northwestern Caribbean Sea as it heads for a landfall in Central America later Wednesday.
A life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds and flash flooding will all be significant threats as Hurricane Lisa crashes ashore and moves inland across Belize, northern Guatemala and southeastern Mexico.
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Where is Hurricane Lisa?
As of Wednesday morning, Hurricane Lisa was centered about 60 miles north of Honduras' Isla Roatán and about 100 miles east-southeast of Belize City.
Lisa is packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph as it moves westward across the northwestern Caribbean Sea.
Track for Hurricane Lisa
The National Hurricane Center assigns names to tropical storms and hurricanes from one of six rotating lists. A hurricane is a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of at least 74 mph.
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Where are watches and warnings in effect for Hurricane Lisa?
A Hurricane Warning has been issued for the Bay Islands of Honduras, the coast of Belize and the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico from Chetumal to Puerto Costa Maya. Hurricane-force winds (74-plus mph) are expected in the Bay Islands on Wednesday morning before overspreading the rest of the Hurricane Warning areas on Wednesday afternoon.
The north coasts of Honduras and Guatemala are under a Tropical Storm Warning, as is the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico from Puerto Costa Maya to Punta Allen. Tropical-storm-force winds (39-plus mph) are expected in northern Honduras on Wednesday morning before overspreading the rest of the Tropical Storm Warning areas later Wednesday.
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What is the forecast for Hurricane Lisa?
The FOX Forecast Center expects that Hurricane Lisa will continue to strengthen as it tracks westward over the northwestern Caribbean Sea until it reaches the coast of Central America. This path will take Lisa near or north of the Bay Islands of Honduras on Wednesday morning before making landfall in Belize later Wednesday. Lisa will then cross northern Guatemala and move into southeastern Mexico by Thursday.
Hurricane Lisa will not pose any threat to the U.S. Gulf Coast even though the track takes a weakened tropical depression into the warm Bay of Campeche for the weekend. A cold front sweeping into the Gulf of Mexico will keep Lisa suppressed to the south until it falls apart by early Monday.
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What are the expected impacts of Hurricane Lisa?
According to the FOX Forecast Center, Hurricane Lisa is expected to produce 4 to 6 inches of rain across parts of Belize, the Bay Islands of Honduras, northern Guatemala, the eastern portion of the Mexican state of Chiapas and the Mexican state of Tabasco. Localized areas could see up to 10 inches of rainfall.
The far southeastern portion of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, northern Honduras and central Guatemala could see 2 to 4 inches of rain, with isolated amounts as high as 6 inches.
In the Cayman Islands and eastern Nicaragua, many areas will pick up about an inch of rain, but localized totals of up to 2 inches are not ruled out.
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The heavy rainfall could lead to flash flooding in these areas along the path of Lisa, particularly across Belize and into northern Guatemala, the far southeastern portion of the Yucatán peninsula, the eastern portion of the Mexican state of Chiapas and the Mexican state of Tabasco.
In addition, a life-threatening storm surge will likely raise water levels by as much as 4 to 7 feet above normal tide levels near and to the north of where the center of Lisa crosses the coast of Belize and extreme southeastern portions of the Yucatán Peninsula.
Elsewhere, a storm surge of 2 to 4 feet is possible within the Tropical Storm Warning area along the eastern Yucatán Peninsula, with 1 to 3 feet possible for the Bay Islands of Honduras.
2022 Atlantic hurricane season running close to average
Lisa is the 12th named storm of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season. Martin became the season's 13th storm on Tuesday morning in the central North Atlantic.
An average season in the Atlantic features 14 named storms, so the season is running very close to average as of early November.
The Atlantic hurricane season doesn't officially end until Nov. 30, which means there's still some time for an additional storm to develop.
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