update 9/7/11 am
Katia is still forecast to head out to sea. At the moment it looks like this hurricane will just produce some great waves for the surfers of North America and Europe.
update 9/5/11 am
Things are looking better this morning. Lee is petering out and Katia is forecast to head back out to sea.
update 9/4/11 pm
Tropical Storm Lee has finally been downgraded to a Tropical Depression but is still wreaking havoc in the Gulf of Mexico:
Gulf communities underwater from Lee
"New Orleans' pumps and levees continue to hold, but towns elsewhere on the coast get up to 7 feet of water. Heavy rain is predicted as the tropical storm crosses the Southeast."
Tropical Storm Lee Cuts Gulf Oil Output, Soaks Louisiana
"... more than half of oil production has been shut down."
Flood fears rise inland as Lee soaks Gulf Coast
In other news....
Hurricane Katia is now a Category Two. Fortunately she is now forecast to head out to sea.
We'll keep an eye on her as the week progresses.
***
Last week Hurricane Irene did up to $20 billion in damage along the Eastern Seaboard and in places like Vermont where destructive flooding arose due to relentless rainfall.
Now the Gulf of Mexico and the Eastern US is once again threatened, but this time there are two storms to keep an eye on: Hurricane Katia and Tropical Storm Lee.
update 9/3/11 pm
Current forecasts put Katia on a NW trajectory for the next five days while strengthening:
Tropical Storm Lee is still spinning away in the Gulf.
update 9/2/11 pm
Hurricane Katia is moving WNW across the Atlantic and is forecast to become a Major Hurricane by the afternoon of Wednesday, September 7th:
Katia is still far off, but current forecasts show her headed for the US coastline at a relatively stable trajectory.
We just have to wait and see where Katia veers and just how powerful she becomes.
Bigger news at the moment is Tropical Storm Lee, positioned off the coast of Louisiana and expected to persist for at least several days:
Lee recently formed in the Gulf of Mexico and is forecast to slowly move NNE towards the Louisiana Coast over the next few days. The probability of Tropical Storm force winds persisting for several days is high:
Tropical Storm Lee is not as powerful as Katia but it is already affecting US interests in the Gulf of Mexico: oil platforms have been evacuated and the environmental/health implications for the Oil-and-Corexit-laden waters of the Gulf are disconcerting. Additionally, the "biggest risk" from Tropical Storm Lee is 10-15 inches of rain forecast to fall.
Also noteworthy is the potential for a third Tropical Cyclone to form off the Northeast. Let's hope Lee dies down, Katia veers off to sea, and that other cyclone never forms.
