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Hurricane forecasters on Friday afternoon were tracking a tropical disturbance that's heading for the Gulf of Mexico. It has a 30% chance of developing into at least a tropical depression. Update: Tropical disturbance could reach Louisiana next week It's too soon to tell if it could post a threat to Louisiana. However, it could mean an increase in moisture and rainfall along portions of the northern Gulf Coast next week, regardless of development, according to the National Weather Service in Lake Charles. Forecasters also are tracking Hurricane Larry, which is strengthening in the Atlantic. It does not pose any immediate...

Tropical Storm Mitchell: The NHC has issued a Public Advisory Update indicating Tropical Storm Mitchell has formed about 90 miles South of Cozumel, Mexico. Current forecast predicts Mitchell will reach hurricane strength in the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall in the Northern GOM. Landfall is estimated by 96 hours. Gulf of Mexico Satellite ChannelsPublic AdvisoriesNHC Discussions NHC Local Weather Statements/Radar Key West FLNHC Local Weather Statements/Radar New Orleans, LANHC Local Weather Statements/Radar Mobile AL/Pensacola FLNHC Local Weather Statements/Radar Panama City, FLNHC Local Weather Statements/Radar Tallahassee, FLNHC Local Weather Statements/Radar Tampa Bay, FL

Over inside the home of the “Democracy Dies in Darkness” slogan on Wednesday, The Washington Post’s lead editorial argued that President Donald Trump “is complicit” in the destruction being caused by hurricanes, including the forecasted pain set to be inflicted in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina by Hurricane Florence. The reasons that The Post outlined had to do with the President’s deregulatory agenda on the environment and his refusal to further President Obama’s liberal, environmentalist policy aims. The editorial first laid out the stakes for those in Florence’s path and then, by paragraph three, laid blame at the feet...

As expected, the Atlantic has seen the birth of the first named tropical cyclone of the season with Tropical Storm Ana. In addition, Tropical Storm Bill has also been born. For the latest NHC information just check the RSS feeds under Doppler Dale's Weather News to the right. For the latest in-depth look on the tropics watch the latest tropical weather video update below. Also don't forget you can get the latest by following me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/dopplerdalewx

Since the mid-1990s, hurricanes and tropical storms have struck the Atlantic Ocean with unusual frequency — or have they? Two new studies suggest that the situation may not be so clear. One, by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, suggests that the high number of storms reported these days may reflect improved observation and analysis techniques, not a meteorological change for the worse. The second, by researchers at Pennsylvania State University and elsewhere, suggests that there were as many storms a thousand years ago, when Atlantic Ocean waters were unusually warm, as today. The work does not suggest...

(AFP) – Global warming is increasing the frequency of extremely high clouds in the Earth's tropics that cause severe storms and rainfall, according to a NASA study released Friday. The space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said a study by its scientists "found a strong correlation between the frequency of these clouds and seasonal variations in the average sea surface temperature of the tropical oceans." "For every degree Centigrade (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) increase in average ocean surface temperature, the team observed a 45-percent increase in the frequency of the very high clouds," according to the study, recently published in Geophysical...

Hurricanes are bad, right? Well yes, they are. Very bad. But as Derek P. Manzello, a University of Miami researcher, and colleagues report, in one way at least they can be a force for good. They can benefit bleached coral reefs. Bleaching, the loss of symbiotic algae from the coral animals, occurs when a reef is stressed, most commonly by warmer-than-normal water. Because algae provide most of the corals’ food, bleaching can lead to the death of a reef, unless the water temperature returns to normal and algae can repopulate the coral. That’s where hurricanes come in. Their intense winds...

Atlantic Tropical Weather Outlook 000 ABNT20 KNHC 031507 TWOAT TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 1130 AM EDT TUE JUL 3 2007 FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC...CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO... A LOW PRESSURE AREA ASSOCIATED WITH A TROPICAL WAVE OVER THE CENTRAL ATLANTIC OCEAN ABOUT 1500 MILES EAST OF THE SOUTHERN WINDWARD ISLANDS HAS BECOME A LITTLE BETTER ORGANIZED THIS MORNING. ALTHOUGH ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ARE ONLY MARGINALLY FAVORABLE... SOME FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THIS SYSTEM IS POSSIBLE... AND A TROPICAL DEPRESSION COULD FORM OVER THE NEXT DAY OR SO AS THE LOW MOVES WESTWARD AT 10...

Forecasters see no tropical storm activity Herald Staff Report MANATEE -- Hurricane watchers say today that the tropics are clear of potential tropical storms at least through Tuesday night. Forecasters with the National Hurricane Center in Miami say an area of showers east of Florida has diminished or merged with a frontal boundary, and the low-pressure area poses no threat. The hurricane center watches the North Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico for weather that could develop into dangerous storms during the 2007 hurricane season. Through the first month of the hurricane season, there has been little tropical weather.

Forecasters see no tropical storm activity Herald Staff Report MANATEE --Hurricane watchers say today that the tropics are clear of potential tropical storms at least through Tuesday night. Forecasters with the National Hurricane Center in Miami say an area of showers east of Florida has diminished or merged with a frontal boundary, and the low-pressure area poses no threat. The hurricane center watches the North Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico for weather that could develop into dangerous storms during the 2007 hurricane season. Through the first month of the hurricane season, there has been little tropical weather.

...Tropical Storm Barry forms in the Gulf of Mexico... at 5 PM EDT...2100 UTC... a Tropical Storm Warning has been issued for the West Coast of Florida from Bonita Beach northward to Keaton Beach...and a tropical storm watch has been issued from north of Keaton Beach to St. Marks. A Tropical Storm Warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected within the warning area within the next 24 hours and a tropical storm watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area...generally within 36 hours. For storm information specific to your area...including possible inland watches and warnings...please...

Over the last 5,000 years, the eastern Caribbean has experienced several periods, lasting centuries, in which strong hurricanes occurred frequently even though ocean temperatures were cooler than those measured today, according to a new study. The authors, from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, say their findings do not necessarily conflict with recent papers asserting a link between the region’s hurricane activity and human-caused warming of the climate and seas. But, they say, their work does imply that factors other than ocean temperature, at least for thousands of years, appear to have played a pivotal role in shaping storminess in the...

For weather watchers, the name Joe Sobel should be a familiar one, as he has been with AccuWeather for 35 years, and is a regular guest on radio stations as well as MSNBC. With that in mind, Dr. Sobel posted an article at the AccuWeather blog Wednesday highly critical of the naming of sub-tropical storms, most recently Andrea. In his view, this practice – which is only five years old – is exaggerating the number of storms per year thereby adding to global warming alarmism Sobel began (emphasis added throughout): Well ladies and gentlemen, we have our first named storm...

PONCE (AP) – National Weather Service [PR/USVI Forecast Office] Director Israel Matos did not rule out Tuesday that some of the tropical waves that have already formed in the Atlantic Ocean will turn into the first tropical storm, which would carry the name of Alberto. "In 1999, we had several storms when the season began that developed in the Caribbean; this year, it is possible to have now in June the first tropical storm," he said. The official said that last year, a tropical storm formed in June in the Gulf of Mexico. Matos specified that since 1995, the early...

MIAMI (AP) - Tropical Storm Zeta formed Friday in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, another installment in a record-breaking hurricane season that officially ended last month. Zeta, the 27th storm of the season, formed Friday about 1,000 miles south-southwest of the Azores islands, according to an advisory posted on the National Hurricane Center's Web site. It posed no immediate threat to land. The center said it would send out a full advisory later Friday. Tropical storms have winds of at least 39 mph. It was not immediately known if Dec. 30 was the latest date for the formation of a tropical...

On a cold winter night in 1953, the Netherlands suffered a terrifying blow as old dikes and seawalls gave way during a violent storm. Flooding killed nearly 2,000 people and forced the evacuation of 70,000 others. Icy waters turned villages and farm districts into lakes dotted with dead cows. Ultimately, the waters destroyed more than 4,000 buildings. Afterward, the Dutch - realizing that the disaster could have been much worse, since half the country, including Amsterdam and Rotterdam, lies below sea level - vowed never again. After all, as Tjalle de Haan, a Dutch public works official, put it in...

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 4 - Dr. Jeffrey Orledge and his medical team provided care in New York City after the 2001 terrorist attacks and in Florida last year after Hurricane Ivan. None of that prepared them for the bedlam of the past week, he said on Sunday. Dispatched to Alabama from its home base in Augusta, Ga., on Aug. 28 in preparation for the hurricane, the team drove from place to place in Mississippi and Louisiana. Each time, it found it had nothing to do or could not provide assistance. Finally, early on Thursday, the team decided to go to...

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 4 - On Friday afternoon, Leonard Sprague, a general contractor in Gainesville, Fla., saw the electronic plea. "I hope someone can help," someone using the name ZuluOne wrote to an online bulletin board. "I am trying to get a current overlay for the area around 2203 Curcor Court in Gulfport, Miss."Mr. Sprague knew that "current overlay" meant a bird's-eye view. And an altruistic impulse combined with an urge to play with a new technology propelled him into action. Using his PC, he superimposed a freshly available posthurricane aerial photograph over a prehurricane image of the same neighborhood....

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 - As thousands of National Guard soldiers entered New Orleans on Friday to help restore order and deliver emergency supplies, Pentagon and Guard officials said the military's response had been slowed by a combination of physical obstacles created by the storm compounded by a cumbersome bureaucratic process for sending federal forces to assist in natural disasters. State officials in Louisiana and Mississippi said they had overcome the absence of some 8,000 of their National Guard troops who are deployed to Iraq by drawing on Guard members from other states, but not until after the storm had passed...

It is daunting what the 600 patients and staff members trapped by a moat of filthy water inside Charity Hospital in New Orleans have been doing without. The lights are down, which means that medication must be rushed through sodden hallways by flashlight after dark. The ventilators are down, which meant that, for a while, nurses had to pump the airbags of pulmonary cases by hand.There are few phones. No x-ray machines. No CAT scans. No computers. No air-conditioners. The lab is down, which means that if a patient has an infection, physicians must determine how serious it is by...