Earl officially made landfall in Belize as a category one hurricane at around 11 pm Wednesday local time, before weakening to tropical storm strength after just a few hours. Data collected by a Hurricane Hunter aircraft estimated surface wind speeds of around 80 mph, just above minimal hurricane strength, as the core of the storm moved on-shore. The storm is expected to weaken quickly, though will still bring copious rainfall to Belize and areas of Guatemala and Mexico.
As the storm progresses west, Earl will move across the southern Yukatan Peninsula during the day Thursday. It will lose considerable strength as the system moves inland; however, tropical storm force winds are still expected across northern Guatemala and portions of Mexico.
Life-threatening flooding and mudslides due to heavy rains are also expected as Earl pushes inland on Thursday. Up to a foot of rain is possible in the heaviest rain bands across Belize and Guatemala through Thursday night.
Earl will lose strength over Mexico on Thursday and Thursday night and could weaken to a tropical depression sometime on Friday. Though the storm may briefly move over the Bay of Campeche, re-intensification is not expected, and the storm should dissipate as it moves into the central mountains of Mexico.