KBTX - Blogs - Hurricanes

Mother Nature Kicks Off Hurricane Season in the Pacific with Tropical Storm Agatha

By: Ashley Batey
Updated: Wed 4:32 PM, Jun 02, 2010

On Saturday, May 29 only two weeks after the official start of hurricane season in the eastern Pacific, Tropical Storm Agatha made its debut.

On Saturday, May 29 only two weeks after the official start of hurricane season in the eastern Pacific, Tropical Storm Agatha made its debut.

Tropical Storm Agatha shortly after landfall

Early Saturday morning around 7 a.m. Central Time, forecasters took notice of a Tropical Depression (an area of low pressure with rotating thunderstorms, but with winds less than 39 mph), in the eastern Pacific.  The storm was located about 300 miles West of San Salvador.  In its projected path were the countries of Guatemala and El Salvador and southern portions of Mexico.  It was then a Tropical Storm Warning was issued for these areas.

By 10 a.m., the storm had strengthened enough to be classified as a Tropical Storm and was named Agatha.  It was moving very slowly over very warm ocean temperatures.  Winds were around 45 mph and projected to strengthen before making landfall.

Agatha made landfall shortly before 7 p.m. Central, and brought torrential rains to parts of Central America.  Once inland, it quickly started to weaken, but at least 12 people were killed as the storm caused substantial flooding to parts of Guatemala.  Parts of the country received nearly 12 inches of rain in only 30 hours as the storm moved over the coast.

After wreaking havoc in Guatemala, Agatha quickly began to dissipate as it moved over the mountains of western Guatemala, but Agatha continued to cause significant flooding as it proceeded Northeast into Honduras.

To keep track of what's going on in the tropics visit kbtx.com/hurricanes.

 

 

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