Tropical storm Arlene, the first named storm of the season, makes its way toward the coastal areas of the Gulf of Mexico. The storm is expected to hit land in the early afternoon on Saturday.
As of 5 am this morning, the lopsided storm was 170 miles south-southeast of Mobile, Alabama and had pick up quite a bit of intensity as it moved through the Gulf.
The storm speed had more than doubled since it hit Cuba, running at 18 miles an hour and heading northwest. Winds are hitting speeds of 70 miles and hour. The storm is approaching the higher end of a tropical storm rating.
Hurricane watches remain in effect from the mouth of the Pearl River to Pascagoula, MS and from Indian Pass to Destin in Florida. Tropical storm warnings are also in effect from Grand Isle, LA to Pascagoula and from Destin to the Steinhatchee River in Florida.
According to Weather.com, the website for The Weather Channel, most of the southeast could be in for some heavy rains for the next couple of days and looks to stretch as far north as the Ohio valley region. As most of the rain associated with the storm, Alabama, eastern Mississippi, southwest Georgia, Middle Tennessee, Kentucky, southern Indiana and southwest Ohio through Sunday are all likely to catch some of the fallout from this storm.
Many in the storm warning areas should be on the lookout for all the standard, nasty thunderstorm problems like heavy winds, lots of rain and tornadoes. Hurricanes have been known to spawn dozens of tornadoes.
An onslaught of 4 hurricanes hammered Florida last year. The massive surge of storms killed 130 people, caused 22 billion in damages and destroyed about 1 in every five homes. Florida has already received a lot of rain and the Florida panhandle is soaking up some of this hurricane.
John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
