NAVY latest track and wind/time data



Reports from an Air Force Reserve hurricane hunter aircraft indicate that the maximum sustained winds have increased to near 75 mph... 120 km/h...with higher gusts. Rina is a category one hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. Additional strengthening is expected during the next 48 hours and Rina is forecast to become a major hurricane by late Tuesday.




Rina grew into a Category 1 hurricane today and is expected to become stronger as it moves toward resorts on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Rina's top winds are now 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour, up from 40 mph earlier today, according to a center advisory at about 2 p.m. New York time. The system is the sixth hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic storm season.

"Additional strengthening is expected during the next 48 hours and Rina is forecast to become a major hurricane by late Tuesday," the center said. "Interests in Belize, the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and the adjacent islands should monitor the progress of Rina."

Rina is forecast to approach Cancun by week's end and then possibly curve east toward Cuba, the center's tracking maps show. The system is about 360 miles east-southeast of Chetumal, Mexico, moving northwest at 5 mph.

A major hurricane has winds of at least 111 mph, capable of snapping trees, blowing down poorly built homes and creating a "high risk of injury or death to people, livestock and pets due to flying and falling debris," the center said.

Reconnaissance Flight

A U.S. Air Force Reserve reconnaissance airplane flew into the storm today and discovered it had grown rapidly in strength, the center said. Hurricane-force winds of at least 74 mph extend 15 miles from its core and tropical storm-force winds of 39 mph or more reach out 115 miles.