Warnings have been issued for sections of northeastern Mexico and southern Texas as Tropical Storm Alberto continues to slowly strengthen in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday (June 19).

Alberto, becoming the first named storm of the 2024 North Atlantic Hurricane Season, is expected to rapidly weaken on a direct path into mainland Mexico tomorrow.

Satellite imagery of the massive tropical storm, as at 10:00 am Central Daylight Time (CDT) the system’s centre was located near latitude 22.2 North, longitude 95.0 West—or roughly 300 kilometres east of Tampico, Mexico.

Formerly Potential Cyclone One, Alberto is moving steadily west at 15 kilometres/hour, packing maximum sustained winds near 65 kilometres/hour, with higher gusts.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward from Alberto’s centre up to 665 kilometres north.

On the forecast track, meteorologists at the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) anticipate Tropical Storm Alberto entering a rapid weakening phase—regressing to tropical depression intensity on making landfall in Mexico on Thursday.

The Mexican government of Mexico has extended the tropical storm warning southward to Tecolutla.

A similar warning level remains in effect for the Texas coast from San Luis Pass southward to the mouth of the Rio Grande as well as the northeastern coast of Mexico south of the mouth of the Rio Grande to Tecolutla.

Alberto is expected to induce rainfall totals up to 10 inches across northeast Mexico into south Texas. Maximum totals of around 20 inches are possible across the higher terrain of the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas—likely producing considerable mudslides in high-terrain areas of northeast Mexico and flash and urban flooding along with new and renewed river flooding.

The system poses further danger with storm surges and strong winds with even an increased likelihood of tornadoes throughout today across parts of Deep South Texas and southeast Texas.

Despite record-high ocean surface temperatures, the 2024 Hurricane Season has been largely quiet and is the first time since 2009 (and the third occasion since modern records began) that there was no storm formation in the Western Hemisphere up to June 17.