ropical Storm Warnings have been posted for: Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St. Maarten, Saba, and St. Eustatius. That means that Tropical storm conditions are likely within 24 hours. The Northern Leeward islands can expect 2-4 inches of rain, with isolated areas seeing up to 6 inches over the next couple of days as Erika continues on her track.

NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental (GOES) satellite, GOES-12 captured a satellite snapshot of Tropical Storm Erika earlier today, September 2 at 7:45 a.m. EDT. NASA’s GOES Project, located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. created the latest satellite image that showed Erika struggling to maintain her intensity as she brings rain to the Leeward Islands. A westerly wind shear is what has caused her strength to wane. Wind shear means winds at different levels of the atmosphere blowing strong enough to interfere with a storm’s circulation.

At 8 a.m. EDT today, Erika was a little weaker than she was yesterday when her sustained winds powered up quickly to 50 mph. Now her maximum sustained winds are near 45 mph, but that will be short-lived as she’s again expected to re-strengthen tomorrow. Those tropical storm-force winds extend 120 miles out from the center, although mainly to the northeast of the center. The northeast quadrant of a tropical cyclone is typically where the strongest winds are found.

Appearing somewhat disorganized on this morning’s GOES-12 satellite imagery, Erika is approaching the Leeward Islands. She’s about 160 miles east-southeast of them, near 16.5 north and 59.5 west. Her minimum central pressure is near 1008 millibars. She’s moving near 7 mph in a westward direction, but is expected to shift on a west-northwesterly track and speed up a little over the next day or two. That means that her projected track will carry her near or over the Leeward Islands in the next day or two.

NASA’s fleet of earth-observing satellites continue to provide valuable data to the National Hurricane Center on the inner workings of Hurricane Jimena as she drops copious amounts of rain and generates dangerous surf along the Baja today. Today, September 2 at 8 a.m. EDT, Jimena’s center is now making landfall on the west coast of the Southern Baja California Peninsula.

NASA’s Terra satellite flew over Jimena September 1 at 2:35 p.m. EDT and captured an image of the extent of her cloud cover. At that time her cloud-filled eye was still somewhat visible, and her center was located to the southwest of the southernmost tip of Baja California. At that time, Jimena’s center had undergone an “eyewall replacement,” and was weakening.

Today the National Hurricane Center warned that “Jimena is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 5 to10 inches over the southern half of the Baja Peninsula and portions of western Mexico during the next couple of days…with possible isolated maximum amounts of 15 inches.” That means a lot of flooding and dangerous mud slides are likely. Flooding in the city of La Paz has already been reported this morning.

In addition, Jimena is causing a dangerous storm surge with large and dangerous battering waves. News reports from Bloomberg News indicated that shortly after midnight Pacific Time, hurricane force winds of at least 74 mph and 13 foot waves affected the western coast of La Paz. The Times also reported that many tourists, fishermen and surfers chose not to evacuate. Some resorts have boarded their windows, and the Los Cabos Airport was closed.

At 8 a.m. EDT today, Jimena’s maximum sustained winds were near 105 mph making her a category two hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. Weakening is forecast during the next 24 hours, but Jimena is still forecast to be a hurricane when it moves inland. Her center was located 30 miles south of Cabo San Lazaro, Mexico, near 24.5 north and 112.1 west. Jimena is moving north-northwest near 13 mph and is expected to slow. Estimated minimum central pressure is 970 millibars.

There’s now been a change in the forecast track for Jimena. Previously, computer models had Jimena crossing the Sea of Cortez (the Gulf of California) and making a final landfall in western Mexico. Now, computer models are projecting that Jimena crawl up the Baja in a northwesterly direction up to the Central Baja California peninsula on Thursday, when she’ll re-enter the Eastern Pacific Ocean.