Double trouble to be felt in the Gulf.

Tropical storm Laura is marching through the Greater Antilles and taking aim on Louisiana. The latest storm track puts the storm ashore by early Thursday. Odds are it will become strong hurricane by then.

In addition, Hurricane Marco is racing toward Louisiana and will likely make landfall by Monday.

This would be the first time in recorded history two hurricanes effected the same area simultaneously.

On two other occasions tropical storms coexisted in the Gulf. Once in September 1933 and again in June 1959.

So far in 2020 Five named tropical systems have made landfall along the U.S. shores. Laura and Marco will increase that number to 7 and break the record for most continental U.S. hurricane landfalls in a single year.

I’ve been asked can these storms merge and form a superstorm. They generally wouldn’t because of something we call the Fujiwhara Effect.

The Fujiwhara effect is when two cyclones in proximity dance around one another as the dominate system guides the interaction and forces storms to meander in different directions.

Hurricane watches and tropical storm warnings are posted for the coastal areas of Louisiana through the early and middle part of the week. Download the Weatherology mobile app for up to the minute updates.

Rainfall in the area by Thursday could exceed 6” in some locations. Localized flooding and powerful wind damage will be the biggest threats with these storms.  

We predicted an above-average number of storms this year due to unusually warm ocean temperatures and global climate features that reduce high-altitude winds that inhibit hurricane formation.

About Steve:

Steve Wohlenhaus is CEO of Weatherology, the leading company in the world at disseminating audio weather information.  Steve began his career as a major market television weather anchor in Minneapolis, where he received several Emmy Awards for science programming. Steve is an author and host of the podcast program Anatomy of Success. Reach out and connect with me on LinkedIn and grab the FREE Weatherology mobile app by clicking on any image in this article.