Hurricane Katia weakens off Bermuda as storm develops in gulf
Katia weakened to a Category 1 hurricane between the U.S. East Coast and Bermuda while a storm system in Mexico's Bay of Campeche has a 40 percent chance of growing into a cyclone, the National Hurricane Center said.
Katia was about 310 miles (500 kilometers) southwest of Bermuda with sustained winds of 90 miles per hour, down from 105 mph in the previous forecast, the NHC said today in a 5 a.m. New York time advisory. The second hurricane of the Atlantic season is expected to pass between Bermuda and the Eastern Seaboard, stirring up coastal surf, starting tonight.
West Texas Intermediate crude climbed as much as 1.6 percent today in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange ahead of an Energy Department report tomorrow that may show inventories declined last week. Stockpiles fell 2.25 million barrels after Tropical Storm Lee shut production in the Gulf of Mexico, a Bloomberg News survey of analysts showed.
The disturbance over the southwestern Gulf off the Yucatan Peninsula will see gradual development over the next two days, according to an NHC outlook. That system would have the greatest near-term threat to oil and gas interests in the Gulf, said Travis Hartman, a meteorologist at commercial forecaster MDA EarthSat Weather in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
“Some of the models say we're going to see some development down there,” Hartman said by phone yesterday. “Basically, we've a model that's historically done pretty well telling us there's going to be a storm there. If conditions go along with that model forecast, that's going to be a concern.”
The Bay of Campeche, where conditions are conducive for spinning up strong storms, holds rigs and platforms owned by Petroleos Mexicanos. The Gulf is home to 27 percent of U.S. oil output and 6.5 percent of the country's natural gas production.
Storm Watch Posted
A tropical storm watch has been posted for Bermuda, with thunderstorms and strong winds forecast through the week as Katia passes to the west, the Bermuda Weather Service said.
Tropical storm-force winds and as much as 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain may lash Bermuda, the Miami-based NHC said.
“Little change in strength is forecast today, followed by gradual weakening on Thursday,” the center said.
Farther out in the Atlantic, Tropical Depression 14 is moving west at 20 mph about 1,100 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands, an NHC bulletin showed.
The system, which may become Tropical Storm Maria today, is forecast to grow into a hurricane by the end of the week as it nears Puerto Rico, according to the center.
The center is also monitoring a tropical wave east of Martinique. The system is moving westward at 20 mph and has a 10 percent chance of becoming a cyclone within 48 hours, the center said in a 2 a.m. New York time outlook.
The systems are occurring some four days ahead the statistical peak of Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. The Atlantic basin has churned up 31 named storms in the past 13 months, three more than in the 2009 and 2010 seasons combined, according to the NHC.