KEEPING AN EYE ON THE TROPICS...AGAIN!

Yesterday, I was looking at what was then Tropical Depression 17, now Tropical Storm Philippe, and was thinking that this was a system we would have to watch. As it turns out, Philippe is expected to become a hurricane...but kick to the north and threaten Bermuda before heading into the cooler waters of the North Atlantic.

But since then ANOTHER Tropical Depression (#18) has formed north of Haiti, and this bears watching. It also is expected to become a hurricane by midweek --- this one would be named Rita; no "Q" names are used --- crossing the Florida Straits and entering the central Gulf of Mexico. As the National Hurricane Centre suggests, INTERESTS IN SOUTH FLORIDA...THE FLORIDA KEYS...AS WELL AS CENTRAL AND WESTERN CUBA SHOULD CLOSELY MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS SYSTEM.

U P D A T E (11:55 AM): The National Hurricane Centre has issued a Hurricane Watch for the Florida Keys from Ocean Reef southward, and a hurricane watch remains in effect for the northwest Bahamas. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands, as well as for the southeast and central Bahamas.

The latest five day track eventually bring what will likely become Rita nearing the South Texas coast (read: Corpus Christi to Brownsville) or into northern Mexico, but we know these things usually have a mind of their own, and that conditions can change over such a period of time. So everyone along the Gulf needs to be very watchful of this system, as by Friday morning it should have highest sustained winds of near 100 MPH.