Hurricane Francine formed in the Gulf of Mexico. Two systems tracked in the Atlantic
Francine strengthened into a hurricane Tuesday night, prompting forecasters to warn of hurricane-force winds to hit Louisiana ahead of its landfall.
The latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center calls for Francine to strengthen to 90 mph sustained winds, remaining a Category 1, likely before landfall in Louisiana on Wednesday afternoon or evening.
As of the 8 p.m. advisory, Francine had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph and was about 350 miles southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana.
The entire coast of Louisiana remains under a hurricane or tropical storm warning, and half of the Texas coast is under a tropical storm watch or warning. Francine’s winds could push up to 10 feet of storm surge on land in the hardest hit spots in Louisiana, prompting mandatory and voluntary evacuations.
While Francine’s future is more certain, the same can’t be said for the two disturbances stirring in the Atlantic.
As of 8 p.m., the nearest one remained at a 30% chance of forming within the next two or seven days, while National Hurricane Center forecasters say the chances the farther one could strengthen is 80% in the next week.
However, long-range computer models are still a mess with either system. It’s too soon to know if either could be a threat to land, and it will be easier to predict when — or if — one of them develops into a tropical depression.
