evening. The hurricane strengthened into a Category 2 storm late on June 30, as it approached the northeastern Mexican coast. At 02:00 UTC on July 1, Alex made landfall at peak strength, with maximum sustained winds of with sustained winds of 110 mph (175 km/h) and an unusually low central pressure central pressure of in the municipality of Soto la Marina in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Operationally, the National Hurricane Center had the landfall intensity estimate as 105 mph (165 km/h), gusts of 125 mph (205 km/h) and a of when it struck the Mexican coast. Several hours after moving ashore, the storm weakened to Category 1 status, and its structure began to deteriorate. However, deep convection persisted around the center. By 12:00 UTC, Alex had weakened into a tropical storm; by 00:00 UTC July 2, the Sierra Madre Oriental disrupted Alex's core, causing the storm to weaken into a tropical depression. Soon afterward, the storm's low-level circulation center dissipated over San Luis Potosí. However, the interaction with the mountain range caused orographic lift on the eastern side of the storm after the low-level circulation center had ceased to exist, producing torrential rainfall throughout northern and central Mexico. Following the dissipation of Alex, divergence at the 200 mb atmospheric pressure level (approximately at of altitude), a ridge of high pressure located over southern Texas, and Alex's residual moisture interacted to produce intense convection over Nuevo León, Tamaulipas and Coahuila for the next 72 hours. Alex's mid-level circulation persisted for another several days, with the remnants turning northeastward and slowly moving towards Texas. On July 6, Alex's remnants dissipated near the border of southwestern Texas. Preparations Caribbean Immediately after the storm formed on June 25, a tropical storm warning was issued for the entire east coast of Quintana Roo on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Shortly thereafter, the tropical storm warning was extended to include the east coast of Belize. Late on June 25, the Government of Honduras issued a tropical storm warning for the islands of Roatan, Guanaja and Utila. A tropical storm watch was also issued from Limón to the border with Guatemala. Western Gulf Coast As Alex neared hurricane strength on the evening of June 28, a hurricane warning was issued for the coast of Texas south of Baffin Bay to the mouth of the Rio Grande. The Mexican government also issued a hurricane warning from the Rio Grande