Perilous
Times and Climate Change
Tropical Storm Emily heads for Florida coast
By Jonathan Lebowitzand Dan Vergano, USA TODAY
Updated 52m ago
A warm-up for the heart of hurricane season, Tropical Storm Emily
bore down Tuesday on the Dominican Republic and Haiti, promising
heavy rains and 60-mph winds.
Emily, the fifth tropical storm of this year's hurricane season,
may reach the Florida coast this weekend. Although the storm looks
unlikely to become the season's first Atlantic hurricane, it has
prompted forecasters to warn coastal residents about this year's
season all the same.
"Tropical Storm Emily is providing a good reminder that we are
entering the peak of hurricane season, so it is a good time to
check supplies," says Dennis Feltgen of the National Hurricane
Center in Miami.
Puerto Rico was spared any major damage from rain and wind as
outer bands of the storm passed Tuesday.
Emily was headed to the island of Hispaniola, shared by the
Dominican Republic and Haiti, and could hit there Wednesday or
Thursday.
"Emily will lose strength as it passes over Hispaniola and then
may pick up strength over the Bahamas," Feltgen says. Some
forecast models, however, suggest the storm's strength may
dissipate after hitting the island.
"Conditions are not ideal for Emily to develop into a hurricane,"
says meteorologist Bradley Sutker of Unisys Weather Information
Systems in Malvern, Pa. "It looks like this will head east of
Florida and head due north from there, possibly towards the Outer
Banks of North Carolina."
Most likely Florida will just see heavy rains from the storm,
which may affect the launch of a NASA rocket this weekend.
"We are watching it closely," says NASA weather chief John Madura
of Kennedy Space Center. The space agency plans to launch its Juno
mission to Jupiter on Friday, when rains now offer a 30% chance of
halting the countdown, he says, with a 60% likelihood of a delay
Saturday and Sunday.
Present estimates place the tropical storm's expected path too far
east of Cape Kennedy to pass over the launch pad, Madura adds,
although NASA reminded workers to prepare their homes for a storm,
in case they need to work through Emily.
Late Tuesday, Emily was about 120 miles south of Ponce, Puerto
Rico, with 50-mph winds, the hurricane center said. Tropical storm
warnings are issued only 36 hours in advance of storms, Feltgen
notes, suggesting forecasts for Emily could change later in the
week.
Meanwhile in the Pacific, Hurricane Eugene strengthened to a
Category 3 storm, with 115-mph winds, south of Baja California and
is no threat to land.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plans an
updated look at this year's hurricane season on Thursday. The
season typically peaks in early September.