Free Republic

Despite the devastation hurricanes Katrina and Rita wrought on Louisiana in 2005, a large number of coastal residents still say they would refuse to evacuate if another hurricane zeroes in on the state, a Harvard University survey shows. “Even though the percentages of people not prepared or who wouldn’t evacuate are small, those numbers add up to the thousands in a metropolitan area like New Orleans,” said Tami Buhr of Harvard’s School of Public Health and one of the survey’s researchers. “That’s a lot of people still at risk.” The survey was conducted between May 27 and June 23 when...

Oil companies and offshore drillers continued evacuating workers from facilities in the western Gulf of Mexico Monday as Tropical Storm Dolly tested the companies' storm procedures for the first time in the 2008 hurricane season. Shell removed 60 workers from production platforms Monday after evacuating 125 the day before. Drillers including Rowan Companies, Diamond Offshore, Noble Corp. and Pride International pulled employees off drilling rigs. Oil refiners with facilities on the Gulf Coast, including Valero Energy, Citgo Petroleum and Flint Hills Resources, said they also were monitoring the storm closely but had not halted fuel production or removed workers. The...

MIAMI (Reuters) - A hurricane watch was issued for the southern portion of the Texas coast on Monday as Tropical Storm Dolly emerged from the Yucatan over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and appeared likely to become a hurricane, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Newly formed Tropical Storm Dolly over the NW Caribbean Sea near 18.4N 84.2W. 1008 MB at 11AM this morning. Max sustained winds 40KT, gusts 50KT, moving NW at 15KT. Caribbean BuoysWunderground Tropical UpdatesVisible Satellite imageInfrared Sat Loop

Carvill Sees Rising Interest in Trading for Hurricane Derivative Products July 17, 2008 Independent reinsurance broker Carvill reports that trading in its derivative contracts for hurricane risk continues to grow. The Carvill Hurricane Index trades on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). As news of Hurricane Bertha, the first real activity of the season, came through last week, Carvill said more CHI contracts were completed, taking the nominal value of derivatives traded to nearly $60 million. In addition to exchange traded activity, there is also considerable interest in bespoke over the counter (OTC) derivatives and more conventional reinsurance based on CHI,...

MIAMI - Less than a day after becoming the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, Bertha surprised forecasters Monday by quickly growing to become a major storm with maximum sustained speeds of 115 mph. Bertha started as a Category 1 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity and was only expected to become a Category 2 before weakening. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said it was still too early to determine if Bertha will eventually hit land, but it was moving in the general direction towards Bermuda. Forecasters urged residents there to monitor the storm’s progress.

BULLETIN HURRICANE BERTHA ADVISORY NUMBER 17 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL022008 500 AM AST MON JUL 07 2008 ...BERTHA BECOMES THE FIRST HURRICANE OF THE 2008 ATLANTIC SEASON... AT 500 AM AST...0900Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE BERTHA WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 19.3 NORTH...LONGITUDE 50.2 WEST OR ABOUT 845 MILES... 1365 KM...EAST OF THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS. BERTHA IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 17 MPH...28 KM/HR. A CONTINUED WEST-NORTHWESTWARD MOTION WITH A GRADUAL DECREASE IN FORWARD SPEED IS EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS...AS BERTHA REMAINS OVER THE WATERS OF THE CENTRAL TROPICAL ATLANTIC. IT IS STILL TOO...

Hurdles of language, mistrust addressed: A burgeoning Hispanic population has helped rebuild New Orleans during the past two and a half years. Now officials are coming to grips with the challenge of moving and finding safe refuge for that population should another hurricane threaten. Since Hurricane Katrina, as many as 14,000 Hispanic immigrants have arrived in New Orleans to provide muscle and skills for the recovery effort. Now civic groups as well as government officials say overcoming cultural and language barriers between emergency officials and Spanish speakers -- especially the undocumented -- has taken on new urgency.

RICHMOND (AP) — Virginians already have been excused from paying sales taxes on back-to-school supplies and energy-saving appliances. Now it's hurricane-preparedness supplies. The state's first Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday begins Sunday and continues through May 31. During that week, sales tax will not be collected on generators costing $1,000 or less, or on nearly two dozen other items ranging from flashlights to duct tape. State officials hope the 5 percent savings will encourage shoppers to stock up on items they would need if the state gets slammed by another storm akin to Hurricane Isabel, which in 2003 left about...

Residents of the Southeastern United States know what to expect from the Atlantic hurricane season, but in 2004 it arrived with particular ferocity. Hurricane Charley hit Florida, causing more than $14 billion in damage. Hurricane Frances prompted a record Florida evacuation. But Hurricane Ivan proved the champ. At peak power Ivan ripped up nearly every house on the island nation of Grenada. After causing 60 deaths and massive destruction across the Caribbean, Ivan reserved a devastating punch for Florida's panhandle, striking with 130 mph winds. That spelled trouble for Paul and Gail Fisher and other residents of Perdido Key, a...

Warmer planet may mean fewer Atlantic hurricanes NewScientist.com news service Mason Inman Contrary to the widespread view that a warming world will bring more hurricanes, a controversial new study suggests the number of cyclones could actually drop in the North Atlantic. Hurricanes have become a lightning rod for arguments over what global warming might have in store. Most researchers agree that, since 1950, the number of hurricanes forming over the Atlantic has increased, and that since at least since 1980, they have become fiercer. Many studies have blamed the increase in Atlantic hurricanes on increasing sea-surface temperatures, which fuel the...

Plans by the Border Patrol to check the immigration status of people fleeing a hurricane could slow the county's evacuation process, or scare people from buses sent to rescue them, Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos said Wednesday. But Border Patrol spokesman Dan Doty said the screenings can be done quickly and are necessary for national security. "We do not want the possibility of someone wanting to do our country harm of getting through the checkpoint," Doty said Wednesday. As emergency officials continued a two-day hurricane drill, Cascos said he has serious questions about plans by federal agencies to do immigration...

Excerpt - YANGON, Myanmar - A powerful cyclone killed more than 350 people and destroyed thousands of homes, state-run media said Sunday. Some dissident groups worried that the military junta running Myanmar would be reluctant to ask for international help. Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit at a delicate time for the junta, less than a week ahead of a crucial referendum on a new constitution. Should the junta be seen as failing disaster victims, voters who already blame the regime for ruining the economy and squashing democracy could take out their frustrations at the ballot box. Some in Yangon complained the...

BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhua) -- China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued a warning against typhoon Neoguri on Thursday afternoon, forecasting it was likely to land along the southeastern coast of Hainan Province or skim over the offshore areas between Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. The latest forecast at 5 p.m. showed that the center of Neoguri was 350 kilometers southeast of the Sanya city in southern Hainan, packing winds up to 136.8 kilometers per hour. Typhoon Neoguri would affect southern Hainan and Guangdong provinces, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and southeastern Fujian Province, according to the China Meteorological Administration (CMA)....

April 12, 2008, 9:16 am Hurricane Expert Reassesses Climate Link By Andrew C. Revkin A fresh study by a leading hurricane researcher has raised new questions about how hurricane strength and frequency might, or might not, be influenced by global warming. Eric Berger of the Houston Chronicle nicely summarized the research on Friday. Kerry EmanuelKerry Emanuel of M.I.T. (Jodi Hilton for The New York Times) The research is important because the lead author is Kerry Emanuel, the M.I.T. climate scientist who in the 1980’s foresaw a rise in hurricane intensity in a human-warmed world and in 2005, just a few...

'Well Above-average' Hurricane Season Forecast For 2008Hurricane Katrina. The Colorado State University team's forecast now anticipates 15 named storms forming in the Atlantic basin between June 1 and Nov. 30. Eight of the storms are predicted to become hurricanes, and of those eight, four are expected to develop into intense or major hurricanes. (Credit: NOAA) ScienceDaily (Apr. 10, 2008) — The Colorado State University forecast team upgraded its early season forecast today from the Bahamas Weather Conference, saying the U.S. Atlantic basin will likely experience a well above-average hurricane season. "Current oceanic and atmospheric trends indicate that we will likely...

Cars have been a huge part of our lives. We use them to get around anywhere. It might have been the best invention mankind came up with, but we all hate several common things about cars, such as the cost of gas prices and traffic. We think sometimes in our imagination how awesome it would be if cars had wings, so maybe one day we will fly through terrific! We also despise accidents, high insurance and drunk driving. Sometimes, I feel that we need other alternative means of transportation, such as a subway system in the state of Texas; maybe...

Global warming is not the cause of increased hurricane activity, researchers said, but many more busy -- and costly -- seasons are ahead. ORLANDO -- We're in a busy period of hurricane activity that will inflict unimaginable damage, but global warming is not the cause, leading researchers told the nation's foremost forecasters and other experts Friday. Chris Landsea, a respected researcher and the National Hurricane Center's science officer, told those at the National Hurricane Conference that there is no conclusive evidence that global warming has significantly enhanced or otherwise affected the number or intensity of hurricanes. ''Any trend we see...

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The noted Colorado State University forecast team expects an above average Atlantic hurricane season and may raise its prediction of 13 tropical storms and seven hurricanes when it updates its outlook next week, the team's founder Bill Gray said on Wednesday. La Nina cool-water conditions in the Pacific and higher sea surface temperatures in the eastern Atlantic are contributing to enhanced conditions for hurricane activity, Gray told Reuters at the U.S. National Hurricane Conference. "We're expecting an above average season," Gray said. "The big question we have is, are we going to raise the numbers from...

Goldstein: A big blow to Al Gore By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN -- Sun Media The Toronto SunAl Gore won't like this. One of the world's leading agencies monitoring climate change says there's no link between global warming and the frequency or severity of hurricanes hitting the United States over the past century. Scientists affiliated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a report last week assessing 105 years of hurricane activity in the U.S., from 1900 to 2005.

New Mississippi delta would limit hurricane damage 13:20 18 February 2008 NewScientist.com news service Phil McKenna The proposed diversion would create up to 1000 square kilometres of new delta by 2100 (Image: Science) Diverting parts of the Mississippi would create up to 1000 square kilometres of new wetlands between New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico, forming a vital storm surge buffer against hurricanes, researchers say. The formation of new delta lands could also help stem ongoing coastal erosion without disrupting important shipping traffic. "The scientific and engineering barriers are easily overcome," says Gary Parker, a geologist and engineer...

Two weeks after federal officials allowed Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour to divert $600 million in post-Katrina housing funds to a massive expansion of the state’s port, the governor is seeking to shift another $25 million in hurricane recovery money to a highway improvement project far from the storm zone, which would chiefly benefit a new Toyota plant being built in the area. Barbour’s money-moving efforts, which have been criticized by Democrats in Congress and the state Legislature, come as other officials seek additional funding for what they say are unmet needs left by the devastating August 2005 hurricane.

State's plan calls for putting some offenders on separate bus Texans seeking to escape the next hurricane or state emergency by evacuation bus will first be submitted to criminal background checks, the state's emergency management director says. The idea, according to Jack Colley, is to keep sex offenders and others who may be wanted by police off the same buses used by the most vulnerable during an evacuation: the elderly, disabled residents and children. "This will allow us to help them evacuate," Colley said of sex offenders and others wanted for crimes. "We're not going to leave anyone." Though the...

BULLETIN TROPICAL STORM OLGA INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 4A NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL172007 800 PM AST TUE DEC 11 2007 ...HURRICANE HUNTER PLANE FINDS OLGA A LITTLE STRONGER WITH TROPICAL CHARACTERISTICS... A TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT ALONG THE NORTHERN COAST OF HISPANIOLA FROM CABO ENGANO IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC TO LE MOLE ST. NICHOLAS HAITI. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE SOUTHEASTERN BAHAMAS AND THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS. A TROPICAL STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE SOUTHERN COAST OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC FROM CABO ENGANO TO PUNTA PALENQUE. FOR STORM INFORMATION...

Tropical Storm Karen, which formed in the central Atlantic in late September, has been upgraded to a hurricane, the result of a post-storm analysis. That means the 2007 Atlantic storm season, which ends today, saw a total of six hurricanes, which is average. Karen, which never threatened land, initially was deemed a strong tropical storm with 70 mph winds on Sept. 26. After reanalyzing satellite images of the system, the National Hurricane Center in Miami-Dade County determined it had sustained winds of 75 mph for about 12 hours. In all, 14 named storms emerged this year, while the long-term average...

With another hurricane season set to end this Friday, a controversy is brewing over decisions of the National Hurricane Center to designate several borderline systems as tropical storms. Some meteorologists, including former hurricane center director Neil Frank, say as many as six of this year's 14 named tropical systems might have failed in earlier decades to earn "named storm" status. "They seem to be naming storms a lot more than they used to," said Frank, who directed the hurricane center from 1974 to 1987 and is now chief meteorologist for KHOU-TV. "This year, I would put at least four storms...

MIAMI - Herbert Saffir, an engineer who created the five-category system used to describe hurricane strength and warn millions of an approaching storm's danger, has died. He was 90. Saffir died Wednesday of complications from surgery, said his son, Richard Saffir. A structural engineer, Saffir created his scale in 1969 — laying out for the first time what kind of damage could be expected from an approaching hurricane. It has since become the definitive way to describe intensity for storms that form in the Atlantic and parts of the Pacific. Before the scale, hurricanes were simply described as major or...

Speaking to a national audience for the first time as Louisiana governor-elect, Republican Bobby Jindal downplayed the historical significance of his primary victory and instead emphasized the state's continued needs for federal aid to bolster hurricane recovery and coastal restoration. Jindal told Chris Wallace, the host of Fox News Sunday, that the federal government has a "moral obligation" to fulfill the promise of aid that President Bush, one of Jindal's fellow Republicans, delivered in a national address broadcast from Jackson Square in the days after Hurricane Katrina. And Jindal noted the support that Democratic congressional leaders already have voiced for...

Unless a dramatic and historical flurry of activity occurs in the next 9 weeks, 2007 will rank as a historically inactive TC year for the Northern Hemisphere as a whole. During the past 30 years, only 1977, 1981, and 1983 have had less activity to date (January-TODAY, Accumulated Cyclone Energy). For the period of June 1 - TODAY, only 1977 has experienced LESS tropical cyclone activity than 2007.

I think everyone knows about the killer tornado that destroyed Sumter Regional Hospital on March 1 of this year. Seimans is giving away a one million dollar MRI machine to a deserving hospital. The selection is partly by vote on their website. I don't think there is a more deserving institution in America for this machine and would like for everyone to click on the link below, scroll down (Sumter Regional Hospital is near the bottom of the list) and watch the short video and vote for Sumter Regional or just simply click "vote" by SRH. It is on the...

Source: NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center Date: October 1, 2007 Comet Collides With Solar Hurricane Science Daily — A NASA satellite has captured the first images of a collision between a comet and a solar hurricane. It is the first time scientists have witnessed such an event on another cosmic body. One of NASA's pair of Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory satellites, known as STEREO, recorded the event April 20. This is a still taken from a visualization showing Comet Encke and the coronal mass ejection erupting from the surface of the Sun. (Credit: NASA) The phenomenon was caused by a...

It appears we have a potential repeat of what took place when Hurrican Katrina struck New Orleans and the Mississippi gulf coast in 2005. Here's an excerp from the Weather Underground website concerning the low pressure system currently off of the Florida coast. "Most of the computer models predict that a tropical or subtropical depression will form from 93L once it crosses into the Gulf of Mexico. The path such a storm might take is uncertain. A strong ridge of high pressure is setting up over the eastern half of the U.S., and is expected to remain anchored in place...

From a scientific standpoint, we can't say for sure that Texas is due for a surge in hurricane activity. Mother Nature, after all, doesn't always obey mathematical probabilities. But let's face it, Texas is due. Since 1851, more than five dozen hurricanes have made landfall on the Texas coast. But in the 1990s and 2000s — a time when the Atlantic basin has seen, perhaps, the most intense tropical activity of any recorded era — just two hurricanes have made a direct hit on the state. That's about one-fourth the number history suggests Texas should see. Activity in the current...

MIAMI - Despite growing consensus that global warming may spawn stronger tropical cyclones, weather experts believe it is too soon to blame climate change for the unprecedented punch of back-to-back monster hurricanes. Hurricane Felix, a top-ranked storm on forecasters' Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, slammed into Central America on Tuesday. Hurricane Dean, also a Category 5, battered Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Aug. 21. It was the first time on record that two Atlantic hurricanes had made landfall as Category 5 storms in the same season, and only the fourth time since records began in 1851 that more than one Category...

SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENT NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 505 PM EDT FRI SEP 07 2007 THE AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT INVESTIGATING THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM BETWEEN BERMUDA AND THE SOUTHEAST U.S. COAST HAS NOT YET IDENTIFIED A WELL-DEFINED CLOSED SURFACE CIRCULATION. THE AIRCRAFT WILL CONTINUE TO INVESTIGATE THIS SYSTEM...AND IT COULD BECOME A TROPICAL OR SUBTROPICAL CYCLONE AT ANY TIME AS IT MOVES WEST-NORTHWESTWARD AT ABOUT 10 MPH. INTERESTS ALONG THE SOUTHEAST AND MID-ATLANTIC COAST OF THE U.S. SHOULD CLOSELY MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS SYSTEM...AND TROPICAL STORM WATCHES COULD BE ISSUED THIS EVENING.

Today, on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, President and Mrs. Bush visited Louisiana and Mississippi and met with officials and citizens as they continue to recover from the devastation caused by the storm. This was the president’s fifteenth visit to the Gulf Coast in two years. President Bush: “This is the second anniversary of an event that changed a lot of people's lives ... And Laura and I are honored to be with some of those who endured the storm and have dedicated their lives to rebuilding this part of the world. The first couple arrived in Louisiana...

A high-pressure system hovered over Florida last week, shielding it from Hurricane Dean's devastating 160 mph winds. But if the storm had arrived in mid-September it could have been a different story. Ocean temperatures, trade winds and the jet stream all work together to carry hurricanes to the United States. But the Bermuda high, more than any other single factor, determines where they hit. Last week, the Bermuda high was strong enough to push Dean south and west of the peninsula and through the Caribbean. The high develops in summer between Bermuda and the Portuguese Azores islands, bringing warm weather...

Bush's inaction leaves New Orleans mired Dear President Bush, don't be afraid to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty when you address New Orleans today. You might be shocked by what you don't see. Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Big Easy two years ago today, wiped out whole neighborhoods, killed 1,800 in the region and threatened the spirit of a city that made its mark by its improvised music -- and its laid-back way of life. But much of that has changed. Federal spending on Gulf Coast repairs has exceeded $114 billion, and we hear you're seeking...

Hurricane Dean came ashore with 165 mph sustained winds and estimated 200 mph gusts near sparsely populated Majahual, a tourist cruise port in Costa Maya, Mexico. Dean's barometric pressure was the third lowest on record for an Atlantic Basin storm at landfall. It was the most powerful Atlantic storm at landfall since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The storm weakened substantially as it crossed the Yucatan Peninsula, and entered into the waters of Campeche Bay as a Category 1 hurricane. Hurricane Dean's path is expected to cross a good portion of Mexico's oil fields. Mexican President Felipe Calderon stated no fatalities...

Please pray for our Missionaries in Punta Gorda,Belize. This will be the second hurricane they will have endured, but this one will be ALOT worse that the 1st. Pray for all in the area that GOD will provide shelter, comfort and relief during this terrible time of trouble!

Extremely dangerous Hurricane Dean is steaming toward the Yucatan Peninsula today, packing winds over 150 mph. The Hurricane Hunter aircraft aborted its mission Monday morning due to equipment problems. The storm is expected to attain catastrophic Category 5 status today. The Cayman Islands have been spared the brunt of the storm's winds as Dean passed 125 miles south of Grand Cayman. Jamaica continues to assess damage to its infrastructure after Dean uprooted trees, knocked down power lines, stripped off roofs, and dumped up to 20 inches of rain, causing mudslides in the mountains. The government of Jamaica has declared a...

Extremely dangerous Hurricane Dean is moving west-northwest through the Caribbean Sea. The current NHC forecast track indicates Dean's powerful center core will pass just south of the southwestern peninsula of Haiti, and should skirt Jamaica's southern shoreline. The storm maintained strong Category 4 wind status through the night during an eyewall replacement cycle. However, the minimum pressure supports Category 5, and additional strengthening of winds is likely. Tourists in Jamaica crowded airports Saturday to leave the island nation. Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller addressed the Jamaican people, asking that everyone put aside their political differences and work together in...

Tracking Hurricane Dean on Google Earth Google Earth is a wonderful tool for the integration and visualization of different georeferenced datasets. With Hurricane Dean approaching the Gulf of Mexico, damage to the Gulf of Mexico oil and gas infrastructure is likely. Below, I give some useful Google Earth add-ons that will enable you to visualize the latest storm forecasts/imagery along with data about the Gulf of Mexico Oil&Gas production (click on the various links to install the individual tools or download this kmz file that will install a Hurricane folder in google Earth containing all the tools below): graphoilogy.blogspot.comShot at...

CASTRIES, St. Lucia — Hurricane Dean barreled across the eastern Caribbean Saturday and took aim at Hispaniola, Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, with forecasters saying it could turn into a monster Category 5 storm within 72 hours. With sustained winds now at 150 mph, Dean left behind floods, debris and at least three deaths on the islands of St. Lucia, Martinique and Dominica on Friday. The first hurricane of the Atlantic season, the Category 4 Dean was expected to gain power as it moves across the warm waters of the Caribbean through the weekend. The National Hurricane Center in Miami...

Hurricane Howard Dean is comin!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here I Am!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://hurricanedeanpath.ytmnd.com/ LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Don't look now -- but Hurricane Dean could be headed for Louisiana (possibly Terrebonne Parish). The very reliable GDFL model indicates that Hurricane Dean may take a more northwesterly track than other models that have it heading into Texas and Mexico. The pull north may occur if the upper level low in place takes it sweet time dissipating. If that happens, then Katy bar the door. Next Tuesday could be very interesting. There is still a lot of ocean between Jamaica and the cental Gulf Coast; so conditions may change. One thing is certain -- this Storm will be very...

Meteorologists at the YTMND weather center have posted a new projected track for Hurricane Dean. It is predicted to take an unlikely turn in the near future. Here's a link to a really nice animated graphic showing the new plot, but I can't figure out how to post it directly. http://hurricanedeanpath.ytmnd.com/

CASTRIES, St. Lucia (AP) - A strengthening Hurricane Dean tore through the eastern Caribbean islands of St. Lucia and Martinique on Friday, ripping the roofs from a hospital and homes, knocking out power, and flooding roads with rain and seawater. A 62-year-old man drowned, in the storm's first death. The first hurricane of the Atlantic season, which grew into a Category 3 on Friday with 125 mph winds, is expected to strengthen over the warm waters of the Caribbean, hit Jamaica on Sunday and climb to Category 4 status before clipping Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. It was projected to steer into...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hurricane Dean, which could strengthen into a Category 4 hurricane over the next few days, will likely cross the islands of the eastern Caribbean on Friday and could threaten the Gulf of Mexico next week. Meanwhile, Tropical Depression Erin produced heavy rains over portions of Texas as it weakened after moving inland over the south Texas coast this morning. The energy market is watching the weather models to see if Dean will enter the Gulf of Mexico and where it could disrupt the region's oil and natural gas facilities, which account for roughly a third of...

Hurricane warnings have been issued for Dominica and St. Lucia as Hurricane Dean races westward into the Caribbean Sea at 24mph. This motion should bring the center of Dean near the Lesser Antilles on Friday. The increased forward speed of the storm has lessened preparation time for Caribbean Islands in its path. Hurricane Dean has favorable conditions to develop into a major hurricane over the next several days. Public Advisories Updated every three hours. Tropical Storm Discussion Updated every six hours Three Day Tracking MapStorm Track Archive Nice animated progression of 5 day forecast tracks Buoy Data East Caribbean Buoy...