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(Bloomberg) – A series of thunderstorms over the Caribbean is expected to turn into a tropical storm that could hit the Gulf Coast next week between Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle.
The system, located in northeastern Honduras, has a 70% chance of becoming tropical storm Michael in the next five days, the National Hurricane Center announced Friday. An attack along the Gulf Coast could take place as early as Tuesday night, but Wednesday is more likely, said Jeff Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground.
"I think somewhere between a tropical storm of 50 miles (81 kilometers) per hour that really does not matter – and a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 90 miles per hour," said Masters. "The oil rigs would like to start evacuating on Tuesday."
Alabama, Mississippi and Florida will have the biggest wind and rain, Masters said.
Until now, the Atlantic has produced 12 named storms this year. The most powerful is Florence, which caused devastating floods in North Carolina and South Carolina.
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