(Bloomberg) – Tropical Storm Earl, forecast to grow into a hurricane, may just graze Mexico's oil-rich Bay of Campeche as it heads west toward the Honduras Bay Islands before making landfall in Belize within the next 24 hours.

Earl was 265 miles (425 kilometers) east-southeast of Belize City with top winds of 70 miles an hour, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory at 8 a.m. New York time. Its winds could peak at 80 mph, making it a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale just before striking Belize's coast early Thursday.

Hurricane by daybreak Thursday

"We do believe it will become a hurricane between midnight and daybreak on Thursday," said Paul Walker, a meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania.

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

  • All PropertyCasualty360.com news coverage, best practices, and in-depth analysis.
  • Educational webcasts, resources from industry leaders, and informative newsletters.
  • Other award-winning websites including BenefitsPRO.com and ThinkAdvisor.com.
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.