Well, TS Chris is hovering around 65mph surface winds, which leaves it about 10mph below hurricane strength. Weather Underground’s Dr. Jeff Masters reports that Chris is traveling down a corridor of upper level lows--which means if the storm veers off its path to the north or south, wind sheers will most likely weaken the storm. If it stays on its current path, however, it will most likely make it to hurricane status either this evening or tomorrow.As to the Gulf Coast areas (from which I live a few hours inland), it seems all regions should be on their toes. Says Masters: “It now appears likely that Chris will enter the Gulf of Mexico early next week and be a threat to the Gulf Coast. There is a trough of low pressure that will be moving across the Eastern U.S. on Monday that may turn Chris more to the north; high pressure is then forecast to build in on Tuesday and force Chris back to the west-northwest. Given this forecast, there is no region of the Gulf Coast that can assume Chris will miss them.”
But this is long range forecasting, and that is quite the gamble. So, we'll just keep our eyes on it. (If you’re curious, take some time to read why posts about storms are on a God-talk blog.)
(Image: WeatherUnderground)