| San Francisco Chronicle | - |
Oct.
3 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Karen formed in the southwestern Gulf
of Mexico, prompting hurricane and storm watches for the U.S.
Tropical Storm Karen Forms in Gulf Prompting Hurricane Watch
Brian K. Sullivan, ©2013 Bloomberg News
Published 2:04 pm, Thursday, October 3, 2013
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Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Karen formed in the
southwestern Gulf of Mexico, prompting hurricane and storm watches for
the U.S. coastline from Louisiana to Florida.
--With assistance from Lynn Doan in San Francisco, Eliot Caroom and Asjylyn Loder in New York, Edward Welsch in Calgary and Chou Hui Hong in Singapore. Editors: Charlotte Porter, David Marino
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net
end quote from:
The
system, with top sustained winds of 60 miles (95 kilometers) per hour,
was about 500 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River and
moving north-northwest at 13 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
“Some
strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours and Karen is
expected to be at or near hurricane strength on Friday,” the center said
in an advisory issued at about 9 a.m. New York time.
Storms
in the Gulf can affect U.S. and Mexican oil and natural gas operations.
The region is home to 23 percent of U.S. crude production, 5.6 percent
of gas output and more than 45 percent of petroleum refining capacity,
according to the Energy Department.
A
hurricane watch, meaning storm conditions may arrive in two days, was
posted from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to Indian Pass, Florida. New Orleans,
as well as the coast from Grand Isle to Morgan City, Louisiana, is
under a tropical storm watch.
Winds of at least 39 mph stretched 90 miles from Karen’s center.
The
center’s tracking map forecasts Karen will make landfall as a strong
tropical storm near the Florida-Alabama line overnight Oct. 5.
Gulf Evacuations
Destin Pipeline Co.
evacuated all non-essential personnel yesterday from operations in the
central and eastern part of the Gulf, according to a company notice. BP
Plc also said it was pulling non-essential workers at four deepwater
production platforms.
Karen may encounter wind shear as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico, said Matt Rogers, president of the Commodity Weather Group
LLC in Bethesda, Maryland. Shear is when winds blow at varying speeds
or directions at different altitudes. That can tear at the structure a
tropical system needs to maintain strength.
“I still think too much shear in the Gulf will mess this storm up,” Rogers said.
--With assistance from Lynn Doan in San Francisco, Eliot Caroom and Asjylyn Loder in New York, Edward Welsch in Calgary and Chou Hui Hong in Singapore. Editors: Charlotte Porter, David Marino
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net
end quote from:
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