Tropical Storm Marco forms in northwestern Caribbean; TS Laura to avoid most of Florida
Miami, Fl (treasurecoast.com)- Tropical Storm Marco has formed in the northwestern Caribbean. TS Laura will most likely avoid most of Florida.
The National Hurricane Center’s 11 p.m. Friday advisory showed Tropical Depression 14 strengthened into Tropical Storm Marco.
Next week there could be two hurricanes churning in the Gulf of Mexico for the first time in recorded history
They’re not going to get along with one another.
The tropical systems will likely batter and weaken each other — and one could even take the other out.
Tropical Storm Laura is moving west at 17 mph while generating maximum sustained winds of up to 45 mph.
If Laura survives its Sunday-Monday trek over the mountains of Hispaniola and Cuba, it is expected to reach Category 1 strength in the warm eastern Gulf waters Tuesday. It’s path is aimed at the Louisiana-Mississippi border, with Pensacola the only part of Florida still caught in the cone of uncertainty
Marco is veering west, right at the center of the Texas coastline. It is moving northwest at nearly 13 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph.
There’s an even more amazing and unlikelier outcome next week: Both storms could end up rotating around the center of the Gulf of Mexico in a sort of hurricane dance-off.
It’s called the Fujiwhara Effect, named after the Japanese scientist who discovered the phenomenon in 1921, Sakuhei Fujiwhara. It’s actually common in the wide-open Pacific Ocean, where powerful storms often interact, but not in the much smaller Gulf.
The Fujiwhara effect, sometimes referred to as the Fujiwara effect, Fujiw(h)ara interaction or binary interaction, is a phenomenon that occurs when two nearby cyclonic vortices orbit each other and close the distance between the circulations of their corresponding low-pressure areas.
