Mexican Storm System More Likely to Become Cyclone, Hurricane Center Says
Thunderstorms moving west-northwest in the Gulf of Mexico have a 50 percent chance of forming into a tropical system in the next day or so, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The system is heading toward landfall over Mexico or southern Texas, the hurricane center said on its website at 2 p.m. Miami time. The potential of formation is up from 30 percent yesterday.
“At its very worst, it will develop into a tropical depression or a very weak tropical storm before it makes landfall,” said Jim Rouiller, a senior energy meteorologist at Planalytics Inc. in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. “The thing is, it is starting to run out of time.”
When such weather systems become more organized, they form tropical depressions that can strengthen into tropical storms and hurricanes.
Rouiller said the system, which is following a track similar to the one hurricane Alex took last week, won’t be a threat to U.S. oil and gas rigs in the Gulf. The storm, which may come ashore near Brownsville, Texas, is likely to bring heavy rains across southern Texas and northern Mexico.
The weather system is southwest of the site where BP Plc is trying to stem and clean up the worst oil spill in U.S. history. The Gulf of Mexico is home to about 31 percent of U.S. oil output, 10 percent of its gas production and has seven of the 10 busiest ports.
To contact the reporters on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net; Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net.
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