Tropical Storm Barry May Form in Gulf of Mexico in 48 Hours
Tropical Storm Barry May Form in Gulf of Mexico Later This Week
(Bloomberg) -- A tropical storm may loom in the Gulf of Mexico late Wednesday or early on July 11 as a low pressure system moves off Georgia into warm waters, gaining strength and threatening offshore oil and natural gas production.
The patch of low pressure moved into the Gulf near Apalachee Bay off Florida and has a 70% chance of organizing into a depression or escalating into Tropical Storm Barry in 48 hours, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Regardless of how strong its winds get, the system will bring heavy rain across the Gulf states.
“If it hits tropical-storm intensity, it will be by the end of the week,” said Adam Douty, a meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania. “The main impact will be farther west into Louisiana and eastern Texas. It could be going right across the main production area” for oil and gas, he said.
In the face of a tropical storm, energy companies in the Gulf often will shut in production and evacuate non-essential personnel. The Gulf offshore region accounts for 17% of U.S. crude oil output and 5% of dry natural gas, according to the Energy Information Administration. More than 45% of U.S. refining capacity and 51% of gas processing is along the Gulf coast.
Any shutdowns probably will be short-lived because the storm will move through the area quickly, Ryan Truchelut, president of Weather Tiger LLC in Tallahassee, Florida, said in a telephone interview.
If the system’s wind reaches 39 miles (63 kilometers) an hour, it will become the second tropical storm of the year in the Atlantic Ocean. If it can organize rapidly over the warm waters of the Gulf, it may become a hurricane, Truchelut said.
In addition to the wind threat, the storm may drop as much as 7 inches (18 centimeters) of rain across a wide area of eastern Texas , including flood-prone Houston, and southern Louisiana in the next seven days, according to the U.S. Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
Before the storm develops, scorching temperatures will grip much of the South from Texas to Alabama, potentially boosting energy demand through the region. Readings may approach the upper 90s Fahrenheit (mid 30s Celsius) with conditions feeling even hotter through Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.
The six-month Atlantic storm season started on June 1 and ends Nov. 30.
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tina Davis at tinadavis@bloomberg.net, Patrick McKiernan, Reg Gale
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