Budding Tropical Storm Threatens to Menace U.S. Gulf Coast

  • System near Honduras has a 70 percent of becoming named storm
  • ‘Oil rigs would want to start evacuating Tuesday’: Masters

The system that could become Tropical Storm Michael.

Source: National Hurricane Center

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A collection of thunderstorms over the Caribbean is likely to strengthen into a tropical storm that could strike the Gulf Coast next week between Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle.

The system, northeast of Honduras, has a 70 percent chance of becoming Tropical Storm Michael in the next five days, the National Hurricane Center said Friday. A strike along the Gulf Coast could come as early as Tuesday night, but Wednesday is more likely, said Jeff Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground.