Now there are two tropical storms heading towards the Gulf of Mexico, and forecasters aren’t sure what’s going to happen when they get there.
Tropical Storm Marco formed on Friday night over the northwest Caribbean Sea, strengthened, and is now expected to become a hurricane later on Saturday or Sunday as it approaches the Yucatan Peninsula, joining Tropical Storm Laura, which is recently raining down on Puerto Rico and the Array Virgin Islands
Both storms are expected to reach the United States with the force of a hurricane or near it next week, according to forecasters. Marco’s trail goes to Louisiana and Texas, while Laura’s trail has moved away from Florida to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
Could hurricanes crash? Here’s what they can do if Laura and Marco are in the Gulf
Two hurricanes have never made the impression in the Gulf of Mexico at the same time, according to records dating back to at least 1900, said Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University. The last time two tropical storms occurred together in the Gulf in 1959, he said.
The last time two storms made landfall in the United States less than 24 hours apart in 1933, Klotzbach said.
Laura and Marco pose demanding significant forecasting situations for the National Hurricane Center. Climate patterns vary significantly depending on long-term intensities, and some forecast models predict Laura hits the United States as a major hurricane coming to the United States, while others see it dissipate. And how the storms will reach the Gulf of Mexico remains a headache.
The latest information from the National Hurricane Center indicates that Laura is about 85 miles east-southeast of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, with winds of 50 mph and moving west to 18 mph.
The typhoon intensified on Saturday and is expected to have hurricane strength early next week in the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall on Wednesday somewhere between the Florida Panhandle and western Louisiana with 75 mph winds.
Laura poured rain over Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands on Saturday morning and hoped to water Herpaniola on Saturday night, then technically or cross eastern Cuba on Sunday and Monday.
Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vazquez declared a state of emergency and warned that the floods could be worse than tropical storm Isaiah 3 weeks ago because the floor is now saturated.
“No one is on the street, ” he said.
Tropical typhoon strong winds rise to 205 miles from downtown Laura, the NHC said.
Sites subject to a tropical typhoon warning come with Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Areas monitored through tropical typhoons include the Florida Keys, Ocean Reef to Key West and Dry Tortugas and Florida Bay.
If Laura crosses the land, Puerto Rico and the mountains of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba can simply set it aside and make it a risk to the Americas, meteorologists said. But if you overlook or overlook the Earth, you may simply head for warm waters conducive to strengthening as you approach Florida, meteorologists said.
Laura can pass the Florida Keys towards the Gulf. On Friday, the local government declared a local state of emergency and issued a mandatory evacuation order to live in boats, cell homes and campers.
7 p.m. The CDT Marco moved across the Yucutan Canal and focused about 75 miles west-northwest of cuba’s western end, about 510 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, with sustained maximum winds of 65 mph, moving from north to northwest at thirteen mph.
Marco is now expected to hit a hurricane later on Saturday or Sunday, but is expected to begin to weaken Monday and Tuesday.
Strong tropical storm winds rise to miles from downtown Marco, the NHC said.
The center of Marco is expected to continue to move north-northwest through the center of the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday and is expected to succeed on the northern Gulf coast on Monday.
A tropical typhoon warning took effect Saturday for Pinar del Río province, Cuba.
A typhoon surge left Sabine Pass east to the Alabama-Florida border, adding Pontchartrain Lake, Maurepas Lake, Borgne Lake and Mobile Bay.
A hurricane alert issued from Intracoastal City, Louisiana, east to the Mississippi-Alabama border, adding Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas and the Metropolis of New Orleans.
A tropical typhoon alert was issued from the eastern border of Mississippi and Alabama to the Alabama-Florida border.
While meteorologists said Marco had a greater chance of surviving his first onshore encounter and then minimizing over hot water, half as expected he would weaken before reaching the U.S. Gulf Coast due to the beheading of higher winds.
Citing any of the typhoon systems, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency Friday night. “It’s too early to know precisely where, when and how those double typhoons will arrive in Louisiana, but the time has come for our other people to prepare for those typhoons,” Edwards said in a statement.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves did the same saturday morning, pointing out a state of emergency as the state sees Tropical Storm Marco on Sunday, with Tropical Storm Laura happening to him.
The Mexican government has abandoned the tropical typhoon warning for the northeastern coast of Yucatan.
Whether Laura and Marco are close enough to others, what may or may not happen, what may also occur is the fujiwhara effect, which describes the rotation of two storms around each other. This is maximum, not unusual with tropical cyclones such as typhoons or hurricanes, but it also occurs in other cases.
When two hurricanes spinning in the same direction pass close enough to each other, they begin an intense dance around their unusual center, the National Weather Service said. The effect may occur when storms deviate about 900 miles.
The storms affected by the Fujiwhara effect revolve around others as if their arms were intertwined and dancing in quadrature.
However, the Gulf of Mexico has its limits when two storms compete for dominance. Some experts have said that the water crater created through plate tectonics (the gulf) is too small for the mythical Fujiwhara effect.
Instead, one typhoon dominates another in such a confined space, either by moving it away or tearing it apart with cirrus twists that mark their own shear from the wind that crowns the cyclone.
AccuWeather’s lead meteorologist, Dan Kottlowski, said he thought Marco would be the storm, her whirlwind in the counterclockwise direction pushing Laura toward the coast faster than expected.
But there is a chance that storms will not hit the Gulf in the form of hurricanes.
“It’s still on the table that those two elements can just disappear,” said lead meteorologist Jonathan Erdman of Weather.com. “All of this can be in vain, which can be the maximum by 2020.”
Contributors: Seth Borenstein and Freida Frisaro, Associated Press; Doyle Rice, USA TODAY; Jessica E. Davis, Lafayette announcer; Lici Beveridge, Mississippi Clarion Ledger