Two Tropical Storms Heading Towards The Gulf Coast

Residents of the Gulf Coast are bracing as two tropical storms are racing towards the Gulf of Mexico. Tropical Storm Laura is currently over Puerto Rico and is expected to approach South Florida as a tropical storm on Monday (August 24) and then head towards Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama. The storm is forecast to become a Category 1 hurricane before making landfall on Tuesday.

Tropical Storm Marco is currently gaining strength off the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Marco is expected to move northwest and into Gulf before making landfall in Texas. Forecasters do not believe that Marco will become a hurricane, but if the storm does, it will mark the first time in history that two hurricanes are in the Gulf of Mexico simultaneously. Two tropical storms have been in the Gulf at the same time, in 1933 and 1959.

There are hurricane and tropical storm warnings in place along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida. Meteorologist are advising people to be prepared for anything

"A lot of people are going to be impacted by rainfall and storm surge in the Gulf of Mexico," said Joel Cline, the National Weather Service tropical program coordinator. "Since you simply don't know, you really need to make precautions."

Forecasters said that predicting how powerful the storms will become is complicated because it is unknown how they will interact once they enter the Gulf.

"It's always tough to predict hurricanes, especially their intensity," CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen said. "In this case, it's tough to say at this point which storm will be the strongest. The storms could potentially interact with each other, and that makes this forecast (or two) even more complicated."

Photo: National Weather Service