by bintangkecil on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 | News, World | No Comments

BREAKING NEWS

Forecasters say Hurricane Ida has strengthened to a Category 2 storm with 100 mph wind, and a hurricane watch was extended to the Florida Panhandle as Ida made its way across the Gulf of Mexico.

The hurricane watch now stretches from southeastern Louisiana to Mexico Beach, Fla. Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami say Ida’s winds are now near 100 mph (160 kph), and Ida could get stronger later Sunday.

The hurricane was moving to the northwest near 10 mph (17 kph), and Ida was expected to pick up steam as it moved over open waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

Ida could reach the Gulf Coast by Tuesday, though it was unclear how strong it would be by then.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE.

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Hurricane Ida, now a category one hurricane, has been pounding Mexico’s Caribbean coast and Grand Cayman with strong winds and rain but little other damage is forecast at this point.

Hurricane Ida is about to enter the Gulf of Mexico as it charges northward with 90 mph winds.

As of 9am CST Sunday the top winds of 90 mph was located about 75 miles to the northeast of Cozumel, Mexico or about 650 miles to the south-southeast of Pensacola, Florida.

Click here to see Hurricane Tracker for Hurricane Ida on weather.com!

Hurricane Ida swiped the resort city of Cancun on Sunday with bands of wind and rain as it steamed north toward the Gulf of Mexico, where officials issued a hurricane watch for coastal Louisiana and Mississippi.

Gusts of wind whipped palm trees and fishermen pulled their boats in and tied them down along Mexico’s Caribbean coast as rain and strong waves moved ashore in Cancun and neighboring Puerto Juarez. Tourists, meanwhile, tried to continue vacationing as usual despite the Category 1 storm.

“I figure probably in a couple hours we’ll be stuck inside,” said Julie Randolph, 40, a social worker from Ormand Beach, Florida, who braved the rain to jog along the near-empty beach.

Randolph said she was monitoring Ida’s progress on her iPhone. “I’m always concerned about storms, but I feel comfortable and safe in my surroundings,” she said. “We would have left if we felt threatened. We still can leave now.”

The Cancun airport was still open and there were no plans to close it, according to airport spokesman Eduardo Rivadeneira.

As winds picked up and intermittent rains intensified Sunday morning, restaurants and nightclubs near the waterfront began covering their windows with large pieces of plywood.

Officials said the worst of the storm would likely hit Cancun around midday. They advised residents to stay inside and avoid putting their trash out on the streets.

“Right now it is very, very calm,” Civil Defense director Ruben Avalos Gutierrez said. “The phenomenon is going to be very close. We will get rain and wind gusts.”

Ida had winds of about 90 mph (150 kph). The storm was passing about 60 miles (100 kilometers) offshore from Cancun, and 85 miles (135 kilometers) southwest of Cuba.

It was moving northwest at about 12 mph (19 kph) on a projected path that could have it arriving at the U.S. Gulf coast around Tuesday.

Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, said Ida could become a Category 2 hurricane late Sunday.

It is expected to interact with a weakening cold front over open seas and will most likely be a tropical storm or perhaps a low-level hurricane when it gets to the Gulf Coast, said Jack Beven, a hurricane specialist at the center.

But when that will happen isn’t entirely clear, he said, which prompted officials to issue a hurricane watch for the coastline from Grand Isla, Louisiana, to the Mississippi-Alabama state line. The watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours.

Parts of the Yucatan Peninsula remained under a hurricane warning, and a tropical storm warning was in place for the western tip of Cuba with heavy rains expected.

Hurricane Ida passed through neighboring Nicaragua on Thursday, damaging or destroying about 500 homes, as well as roads, bridges and public buildings.

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by wildcherry on Saturday, August 15th, 2009 | Travel, Weather | No Comments

Hurricane Bill, upgraded to a Category 4 storm, tore across the Atlantic Wednesday with raging winds nearing 135 mph, threatening a possible strike near Bermuda in a few days, meteorologists reported.

At 11 a.m. ET, Bill was centered about 380 miles east-northeast of the Leeward Islands, and about 1,080 miles south-southeast of Bermuda, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Tropical Storm Claudette made landfall on the Florida Panhandle near Fort Walton Beach early today, making it the first named storm to hit the U.S. mainland this year. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Bill was intensifying far from land in the open Atlantic and could become a hurricane Monday. It had sustained winds of 70 mph late Sunday. Category 1 hurricanes have winds between 74 and 95 mph.

Elsewhere, Tropical Depression Ana was moving into the northeastern Caribbean Sea early today. It was expected to make landfall as a depression at the Leeward Islands. Watches were posted for Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Antigua, St. Maarten and several other islands in the area. Ana was forecast to bring 2 to 4 inches of rain.

If the current forecast holds, Ana would approach this region on Wednesday. Potentially, it could be a hurricane or a strong tropical storm with 70 mph winds.

The forecast track hints at a curve to the north before reaching this area. However, at this point nothing is certain.

The track likely will shift over the next few days and, bottom line, we need to watch it closely.

As for the strong wave in the eastern Atlantic, expect it to grow into Tropical Depression 3 today and then, likely, Tropical Storm Bill.

Tropical Storm Bill has formed in the far eastern Atlantic and the government of the Netherland Antilles has issued a tropical storm watch for St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius because of Tropical Storm Ana.
The National Hurricane Center said Saturday that Ana had maximum sustained winds of near 40 mph and is quickly moving west near 17 mph. It’s about 805 miles east-southeast of the Leeward Islands.
The Hurricane Center says residents there and in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico should monitor Ana’s progress.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Bill also has maximum sustained winds near 40 mph and is moving west near 16 mph. It’s expected to get stronger in the next 24 hours and is about 820 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands.

Brewing in the Gulf of Mexico, Tropical Storm Claudette threatened to bring heavy rain to the Florida Panhandle later Sunday, likely becoming the first tropical storm to strike the U.S. mainland this year.

Claudette had winds of at least 50 mph, but was not expected to cause significant flooding or wind damage. Lurking more ominously in the Atlantic were tropical storms Ana and Bill, which was quickly turning into a powerful storm over warm waters in the open Atlantic.

Latest on Hurricane Bill

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