At 2 PM EDT (1800 UTC) August 7, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) upgraded Tropical Storm Ernesto to a Category 1 hurricane. Ernesto is located about 185 miles east of Chetumal, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 80 miles per hour and moving toward the west-northwest at 14 miles per hour. Radio amateurs with WX4NHC -- the Amateur Radio station at the NHC in Miami, Florida -- and the VoIP Hurricane Net will activate at 6 PM EDT (2200 UTC), while the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) activated at 1 PM EDT (1700 UTC) on August 7 in anticipation of the storm.

A hurricane warning is in effect for Chetumal to Tulum on the East Coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, as well as Cozumel and the entire coast of Belize. In addition to the hurricane warning, forecasters have also issued a tropical storm warning the coast of Honduras from the Honduras/Nicaragua border westward to Punta Sal, including the Bay Islands. The warning is also in effect for areas north of Tulum to Cabo Catoche on the East Coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, and from Celestun southward and westward to Chilitepec along the West Coast of the Gulf Coast of Mexico. A tropical storm watch is in effect for the coast of Honduras from west of Punta Sal to the Honduras/Guatemala border.