Delta makes landfall as Category 2 hurricane in Mexico, forecast to hit US Friday

October 7, 2020October 7, 2020 WKXA

ABC NewsBy MAX GOLEMBO, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — Hurricane Delta made landfall Wednesday morning along the northeast coast of the Yucatan Peninsula near Puerto Morelos, Mexico.

The center of Delta, according to satellite imagery, made landfall around 6:30 a.m. ET with estimated maximum winds of 110 mph.

Storm surge will be the biggest threat in Cancun and along the coastal Yucatan Peninsula Wednesday morning.

Once Delta reemerges in the Gulf of Mexico, the current forecast calls for re-strengthening and it could once again reach a category 4 hurricane, with winds of 130 mph on Thursday night into early Friday morning.

There is some hope that as Delta approaches the western Gulf Coast of the U.S., it will weaken due to the cooler water and atmospheric shear. But even with a weakening, the current track shows Delta could be a major category 3 hurricane during the landfall on Friday, with winds of 115 mph.

It looks like Delta could make landfall earlier on Friday, maybe Friday early afternoon close to the Louisiana-Texas border.

One of our short-term models shows landfall along the Texas-Louisiana border between noon and 1 p.m. Friday.

Storm surge, damaging winds and flooding rainfall all will be a threat in the western to central Gulf Coast.

Heavy rainfall will fall not only on the coast, but also well inland, all the way up the Mississippi River to Tennessee and into the Ohio River Valley on Saturday. Flash flooding is expected in these areas this weekend.