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Hurricane Earl is lining up for Belize at this hour – in fact, Tropical Storm Force Winds are already being felt in Belizean territory at Half Moon Caye.  Those winds will be on San Pedro by nine to0ngith, and by midnight, coastal areas on the mainland will be braced by those winds and, of course, rains.  At 6:00 pm, the center of the storm was 85 miles east south east of Belize City. 

Now, it’s important to note that forecasters say the storm will make landfall north of Belize city – and the path of the eye will look something like this. NEMO advises that the main impact zone is most likely the Belize River Valley area, villages such as Willows Bank; Rancho Dolores; Isabella Bank; Double Head Cabbage; and villages in southern Orange Walk such as Guinea Grass, August Pine ridge, San Felipe, Indian Church and parts of Corozal to a lesser extent.

Maximum sustained winds are near 75 mph with higher gusts and Earl is moving westward near 14 mph.

And while a storm is fast approaching, This evening at 6:00 this is how Belize City looked at the Foreshore, where people were casually using the weather for some good fishing, from there unto the Baron Bliss grave where the always popular hangout area was empty and no one was seen taking a storm selfie. From there we went to the fish market which is usually buzzing at 6:00 pm – but that was dormant, going up the road a bit, we saw popular businesses like Three Star Chicken and the Bel China Gas Station closed…further up Vernon street we saw some folks making some last minute preparaitons to their structure. 

On the boulevard some Chinese stores were still opened including number one store and number 88 trading center –where police were very present and on duty. And on the Caesar ridge area that was hit so hard last time with hurricane Richard – we saw the view from above with all peaceful, and storm clouds being pulled east.  We hope and pray it looks like that tomorrow.