Tropical Storm Cristobal forms in the Bay of Campeche. The steering currents on the storm are weak and the system is expected to linger in place for the next few days. The system is expected to eventually move north, but State Climatologist Barry Keim says there is much uncertainty when it comes to forecasting the track and intensity.
“Everyone I’d say from about Galveston to the Panhandle of Florida really needs to keep a close watch on this one,” said Keim.
The system is started off as Tropical Storm Amanda in the Pacific, but as it crossed over Central America it weakened and ended up in the Bay of Campeche and has been renamed with an Atlantic storm name.
Keim says the current forecast calls for the storm to move to about 200 miles south of Morgan City on Sunday morning and tracking northward.
“It’s conceivable that we could be looking at a landfalling storm on the central Louisiana coast probably late Sunday or into Monday, but again, there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the storm,” said Keim.
Keim says this storm is a reminder that it is never too early to be prepared for hurricane season.
“We’ve had a Category 4 hurricane make landfall in Louisiana in the month of June, so anything is possible. That was Hurricane Audrey in 1957, so some storms still get pretty powerful, even this far out of the real core of the season,” said Keim.
This is the earliest date for an Atlantic third named storm formation on record.
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