Tropical Storm Barry forms in the Gulf, aims for Mexico

The second named tropical storm of the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season formed in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday, as a tropical depression attained enough organisation to reach high enough wind-speeds to be named. Tropical storm Barry is heading directly for the Veracruz region of Mexico, so poses no threat to he U.S. coastline.

Tropical depression 2 formed on Monday in the southwest Caribbean, close to Belize, then made landfall and crossed the Yucatan peninsula bringing heavy rainfall to Belize, Guatemala and southern Mexico before emerging back into the Gulf of Mexico. Once back in the GoM tropical depression 2 quickly became more organised and was upgraded into tropical storm Barry.

The path, or track, of tropical depression 2 and tropical storm Barry

Now, tropical storm Barry is carrying maximum sustained winds of 45mph with a minimum central pressure of 1004MB, tropical storm force winds extend outwards as much as 80 miles from the center of the storm. Barry will make landfall in the Veracruz region of Mexico in the early hours of this morning, local time.

There is no real storm surge threat as Barry has not reached a high enough wind speed or low enough central pressure. The main threat will be from torrential rainfall of 3 to 5 inches, with locally significant amounts of as high as 10 inches possible. Tropical storm Barry’s winds are not expected to increase significantly before landfall.

You can see the latest position of tropical storm Barry below:

Tropical storm Barry current position and direction of landfall

Tropical storm Barry is not going to be an event for the insurance, reinsurance and catastrophe bond sectors to worry about, but does have the potential to create havoc in Mexico from heavy rains, floods and landslides. Any insurance industry losses will be contained to local insurers in the region.

Follow the tropical storm and hurricane season on our page dedicated to the 2013 Atlantic Hurricane Season.