By Jose Cortazar
CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - Storm Alex was downgraded to a tropical depression as it moved over the Yucatan Peninsula but was likely to regain strength over the Gulf of Mexico later on Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Centre said.
The storm was not an imminent threat to oil-siphoning efforts at BP Plc's blown-out Macondo well in the Gulf, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The Mexican government on Sunday closed Dos Bocas and Cayo Arcas, two of its main oil exporting ports on the Gulf of Mexico due to Alex.
"The forecast calls for Alex to regain tropical storm status by tonight ... and for steady intensification through 72 hours," the Miami-based centre said.
Alex was expected to emerge in the southern Gulf of Mexico and make landfall again as a hurricane mid-week between Brownsville, Texas, and Tuxpan de Rodriguez Cano, Mexico, sparing BP spill collection efforts.
The Hurricane Centre said models varied widely on its possible track.
"The amount of time that Alex spends over the Gulf waters will be the pivotal factor in how much intensification occurs," the centre said on its 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) forecast.
The hurricane centre said Alex has become a more organized storm as it crossed Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula, and there was at least a moderate chance it could become a major hurricane. That is a category 3 or higher with winds of at least 111-130 miles per hour (178-209 km/hr).
Alex, the first named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, had sustained winds of near 35 mph (55 km per hour) and was about 85 miles (135 km) south of the port city of Campeche, Mexico. The system was moving west-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph).
Tropical storm warnings for the coast of Belize and the east coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula from Chetumal to Cancun were discontinued.
Alex was expected to bring 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 cm) of rain to the Yucatan Peninsula, southern Mexico, northern Guatemala, Honduras and Belize through Monday morning. Isolated amounts of up to 15 inches (38 cm) were possible over mountainous areas.
The storm dumped rain overnight in Cancun, a major seaside resort that draws U.S. and European visitors, and winds tore down some small trees but tourists in the area hung out at restaurants and bars as usual.
In Campeche, a port city on the Gulf of Mexico, skies were clouded Sunday morning and civil protection prepared evacuation plans in case rivers flood. Moderate rain had started to fall in Calakmul, a Mayan ruin site close to the Belize border in the southern part of the state.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30 and meteorologists predict this year will be a very active one. Hurricanes feed on warm water and the sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic are higher than usual this year.
(Additional reporting by Gerardo Garcia in Chetumal and Cyntia Barrera Diaz in Mexico City, editing by Vicki Allen and Bill Trott)
