Two tropical storms are headed towards the Gulf Coast, and there's a possibility they could make history by arriving at the same time. CBS News reports that Tropical Storm Laura and Tropical Storm Marco have both been gaining strength and are forecast to hit the Gulf Coast next week around one day apart and just miles from each other.
Currently over Puerto Rico, Tropical Storm Laura is expected to head toward Hispaniola and Cuba over the coming days, while Marco is currently hanging around the Yucatan channel and is expected to arrive at the Gulf of Mexico. "It's always tough to predict hurricanes, especially their intensity," CNN's meteorologist Dave Hennen said. "In this case, it's tough to say at this point which storm will be the strongest. The storms could potentially interact with each other and that makes this forecast (or two) even more complicated."
Two storms arriving at the same place at the same time hasn't been recorded in U.S. history, and as the Orlando Sentinel reports that the odds of it happening are remarkably slim. There's still a number of days before the storms are to arrive in the U.S., but there's the possibility they could both increase to hurricane strength as they pass the Gulf of Mexico. "Near the end of the period, [tropical storm] Marco's track and intensity could be influenced by Tropical Storm Laura, which is also forecast to be over the Gulf of Mexico," the National Hurricane Center said.
The 2020 Hurricane season is predicted to have somewhere between 19 and 25 storms, which is the largest NHC forecast ever. Alarmingly, the season has already been particularly active, and as the NHC notes, the tenth named storm usually only develops around October. The statistical peak of hurricane season in the Atlantic is Sept. 10, and approximately 85 percent of hurricanes category 3 and above happen after Aug. 20.
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