Conditions are already looking pretty bad. Lots of web traffic, power outages, and low visibility will probably render them useless soon but follow them while you can.

StormJunkie.com – Live storm chaser stream
Bing Map of South Padre Live Cams
Beach Cam
Birding Center Cam
Isla Grand Beach Resort Cam
Pier 19 Cam
Pirates Landing Restaurant Cam (Port Isabel)
Louie’s Backyard
South Padre Jetties
Hurricane City – Live media from the region

There are too many to list but this represents some of the more active tweeps on the American side of the border. Media, individuals, and local governments can all be found in the list below. I’ve also added the accounts below to a HurricaneAlex list on Twitter.

JimCantore – The Weather Channel
portisabeltexas – 3 mi. from South Padre
abramsandbettes – Stephanie Abrams and Mike Bettes from TWC
CycloneOz – Hurricane Chase Brian Osburn
elozano – On South Padre Island
KVEO – KVEO is the Rio Grande Valley’s NBC affiliate.
ExtremeStorms – Extreme Weather cameraman in S. Padre
cnnfiegel – CNN producer on South Padre Island
Pro8News – Laredo, Texas
krgv – The Rio Grande Valley’s award-winning ABC-affiliate
kgbt – KGBT Action 4 News for the Rio Grande Valley
southpadrelive – JW Wilson
JulianCablancas – Brownsville,TX
CityofMcAllen – Official twitter of the City of McAllen, TX
BrownsvilleNews – Brownsville, Tx
SPadre_Island- Severe weather alerts for South Padre Island

Also Worth Watching:
TWCBreaking – Breaking weather news feed of The Weather Channel
TrackHurricanes – Tracking Hurricane Information and Reports

Common Hashtags
#HurricaneAlex
#Hurricane
#Alex

If you’re aware of other folks worth following let me know and I’ll add them to the list.

The latest advisory from the NHC:

RAINFALL…ALEX IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE TOTAL RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 12 INCHES OVER PORTIONS OF NORTHEASTERN MEXICO AND SOUTHERN TEXAS…WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF 20 INCHES. THESE RAINS COULD CAUSE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AND MUD SLIDES…ESPECIALLY IN MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN. RAINBANDS ASSOCIATED WITH ALEX ARE SPREADING ONSHORE IN NORTHEASTERN MEXICO AND SOUTHERN TEXAS.

WIND…TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO REACH THE COAST WITHIN THE HURRICANE AND TROPICAL STORM WARNING AREAS LATER THIS MORNING…MAKING OUTSIDE PREPARATIONS DIFFICULT OR DANGEROUS.

STORM SURGE…A DANGEROUS STORM SURGE WILL RAISE WATER LEVELS BY AS MUCH AS 3 TO 5 FEET ABOVE GROUND LEVEL ALONG THE IMMEDIATE COAST TO THE NORTH OF WHERE THE CENTER MAKES LANDFALL. THE SURGE COULD PENETRATE INLAND AS FAR AS SEVERAL MILES FROM THE SHORE WITH DEPTH GENERALLY DECREASING AS THE WATER MOVES INLAND. NEAR THE COAST…THE SURGE WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY LARGE AND DESTRUCTIVE WAVES.

TORNADOES…ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE OVER PORTIONS OF EXTREME SOUTHERN TEXAS TODAY.

Rain, not wind, is the biggest threat by far but the balance could shift a little for those near the eye:

VERTICAL SHEAR IS FORECAST TO REMAIN LIGHT UP UNTIL LANDFALL OCCURS IN ABOUT 24 HOURS. GIVEN THAT ALEX IS ALSO MOVING SLOWLY OVER SOME OF THE WARMEST UPPER-OCEAN HEAT CONTENT IN THAT REGION OF THE GULF OF MEXICO…STEADY STRENGTHENING RIGHT UP UNTIL LANDFALL SEEMS REASONABLE. HOWEVER…GIVEN THE RELATIVELY LOW CENTRAL PRESSURE RECENTLY MEASURED BY THE RECON AIRCRAFT…RAPID INTENSIFICATION OF AT LEAST 30 KT IN 24 HOURS IS A DISTINCT POSSIBILITY. THE OFFICIAL INTENSITY FORECAST IS A BLEND OF THE LGEM AND SHIPS MODELS.

If Alex does reach category 2 or weak category 3 status wind becomes a significant concern but flooding will impact, and kill, many more people than wind. FEMA on flooding:

The next time you hear hurricane — think inland flooding!

While storm surge has the highest potential to cause hurricane related deaths, more people died from inland flooding associated with tropical systems from 1970 to 1999. Since the 1970′s, inland flooding has been responsible for more than half of all deaths associated with tropical cyclones in the United States. Flooding from hurricanes can occur hundreds of miles from the coast placing communities, which would not normally be affected by the strongest hurricane winds, in great danger.

Just in from the NHC:

…ALEX BECOMES THE FIRST HURRICANE OF THE 2010 SEASON AND THE FIRST JUNE ATLANTIC HURRICANE SINCE 1995…

The good news is that this is looking like a relatively minor storm – by hurricane standards:

ALEX IS BEING UPGRADED TO A 65-KT HURRICANE FOR THIS ADVISORY. VERTICAL SHEAR IS FORECAST TO REMAIN BELOW 10 KT FOR THE NEXT 24-48 HOURS SO THE HURRICANE SHOULD REMAIN IN AN
ENVIRONMENT CONDUCIVE FOR INTENSIFICATION UP TO LANDFALL. THE SHIPS RAPID INTENSIFICATION INDEX SHOWS A 33 PERCENT PROBABILITY OF RAPID INTENSIFICATION…I.E. A 30-KT INCREASE OVER 24 HOURS. HOWEVER…NONE OF THE OTHER NUMERICAL INTENSITY GUIDANCE SHOWS ALEX STRENGTHENING BEYOND CATEGORY ONE STATUS PRIOR TO LANDFALL. THE OFFICIAL INTENSITY IS VERY CLOSE TO THE LGEM GUIDANCE AND ABOUT THE SAME AS THAT FROM THE PREVIOUS PACKAGE.

This storm is still a significant danger to those along the Mexican and Texas coasts near landfall. Rainfall and flooding will be a far bigger threat than wind.

Alex is expected to be at the low-end of the hurricane strength spectrum, but still will bring torrential rains to a Rio Grande delta region ill-suited, both economically and geographically, to handle it.

Passing showers Tuesday quickly pooled along parts of downtown streets in Brownsville and Matamoros, a worrisome sign with Alex expected to dump eight to 12 inches of rain in the region and as much as 20 inches in isolated areas.

The models, many of which had been shifting to the upper Texas coast, seem to be moving back down toward the border region. The current 5 day forecast from the NHC has it moving in there as a category 2 storm. Dr. Jeff Masters updates:

The latest 12 UTC (7am CDT) runs of our most reliable computer models have come into much better agreement. A consensus forecast arrived at by averaging together most or all of the tracks of our top models–the GFS, ECMWF, GFDL, NOGAPS, HWRF, UKMET, and GFDN–is pretty much what NHC always uses as the basis of their forecast. This consensus forecast has narrowed in on the region just south of the Texas/Mexico border as being the most likely landfall location, with the usual cone of uncertainty surrounding it. The computer model that had been making the northernmost landfall predictions, the Canadian model, is now projecting a landfall 100 miles south of the Texas/Mexico border. There has been a general southward shift of the models in their latest runs, and the most northerly landfall location, near Port Mansfield, is now being predicted by the HWRF model. The earliest landfall time is Wednesday morning, and the latest is Wednesday night. Which model should you trust? Last year, the best performing models at the 3 day forecast period were the GFS, Canadian, ECMWF, and GFDL.

I wouldn’t say that anyone on the Texas coast is out of the woods just yet. Keep an eye on Alex. These storms can be incredibly unpredictable.