Hurricane (possibly) a-comin’

Published 9:14 am Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Here we go again. And this time, it may hit closer to home.

Right now, the National Hurricane calls it Invest 90L, a tropical disturbance in the southwestern Caribbean Sea. But indications suggest the disturbance will quickly develop and head north, posing a threat to Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee as Tropical Storm Nate or Hurricane Nate by this weekend.

That’s right, we said by this weekend.

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Water in the Caribbean is extremely warm, some 2 to 5 degrees above normal. That’s conducive to storm development. Nobody is forecasting at this moment that Nate would be as strong as Harvey or Irma but the tropics need watching, and our friends along the Mississippi coast should pay close attention.

The National Hurricane Center forecasts a 90 percent chance of tropical development in the next 48 hours and Mississippi is in the line of the potential strike zone, and so are the coastal states of Alabama, Florida (panhandle), Louisiana and Texas.

If we have learned anything this active and destructive hurricane season it’s that coastal states like Mississippi should be close attention to any potential development.

We hope the forecasters are wrong, and Nate fizzles away, never developing or striking land. But we also know that caution is the best approach.