Category 2 Hurricane Dolly Crosses South Padre Island, Texas

by Rob Gutro, Space & Earth science / Environment

Credit: NASA/JPL

At 12:00 p.m. CDT (1:00 p.m. EDT) Dolly's eye was located near latitude 26.2 north and longitude 97.0 west or about 35 miles northeast of Brownsville, Texas, and she was crossing South Padre Island.

Dolly has been meandering for the past hour or so but it should begin to move toward the west-northwest near 7 mph on the forecast track. The eye of Hurricane Dolly will be crossing the coast along the southern Texas coast in the early-mid afternoon hours).

Maximum sustained winds remain near 100 mph with higher gusts. Dolly is a category two hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. At 1:00 p.m. EDT, Port Isabel Airport measured 58 mph sustained winds with gusts to 70 mph. Minimum central pressure reported by an air force reconnaissance plane was is 967 millibars.

She's expected to maintain hurricane strength over the southern tip of Texas and weaken to a depression over the Mexico line early Thursday.

Provided by NASA

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