Posted on 08/10/2004 7:39:48 AM PDT by Pyro7480
Two Tropical Storms Threaten Caribbean, Gulf
MIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Charley was born in the Caribbean Sea on Tuesday, joining Tropical Storm Bonnie as twin threats to the Caribbean region and the southern U.S. coast.
Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Jamaica could be put under a storm watch later on Tuesday as Charley revved up between Venezuela and Puerto Rico.
At 5 a.m. EDT, the center of Charley was about 450 miles south-southeast of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, at latitude 13 north and longitude 66.3 west, the hurricane center said. The storm was steaming west-northwest at about 24 mph and was expected to stay on that track for the next day. Its top sustained winds were about 40 mph and could rise in the next 24 hours.
The long-range forecast had it moving between Cuba and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula into the Gulf of Mexico late Friday or early Saturday. Bonnie, meanwhile, was moving more slowly, at about 8 mph toward the west-northwest, in the Gulf of Mexico. It had sustained winds of 50 mph.
Its center at 5 a.m. EDT was about 390 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River, at latitude 23.6 north and longitude 90.1 west, the hurricane center said.
Forecasters said Bonnie was a small tropical storm but could strengthen in the next day.
The long-range forecast had it turning north and then northeast in the next two days, with its most likely target the Florida panhandle near Panama City on Thursday.
The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, began quietly until Hurricane Alex flooded homes and cars as it grazed the Outer Banks of North Carolina last week. Swirling tropical weather systems that become tropical storms are given names when their sustained winds reach 39 mph. Tropical storms become hurricanes at 74 mph.
Wow, 2 hurricanes could be threatening FL by friday.
Well, Bonnie doesn't look that organized (yet), and Charley has more time to organize.
We have a cold front coming through tommorow which should keep both off our Texas coast.
But you never really know.
Make that Bonnie getting an eye today, one was nearly visable in the loop an hr ago. what a tiny hurricane compared to most.
Wow, that's clever. Have you always been this clever, or is this something new? Please continue to inject political clichés into hurricane threads, as they add vital information to what could be a question of life or death for millions of people in a week or less.
It's far too early to predict the course of Charlie, but most of the computer models have it tracking right toward Panama City also.
Forecasters are already moving the swath of Bonnie slightly more to the West. New Orleanians are taking notice...
Feel free to relax.
It is tradition to blame all hurricanes on Bush here, light up man.
They should have named the 3rd storm "Clyde".
You're right about that!
I see it there. It looks like she is shearing and becomming more oblong and egg shaped.
My bro and his wife will be driving home to Gainesville, Georgia (north) from Nawlins Thursday....looks like Bonnie might give them a dewy few hours...
On the other hand some people whine about nothing.
Wind makes you snippy.
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