Friday, July 29, 2011

Tropical storm Don aims for Texas coast

I'm on the lookout for stories about how accurate this season's hurricane predictions have been, an important topic in climate circles. The latest big blow, from Terra Daily via AFP, doesn't seem so terrible: Tropical storm Don strengthened slightly on Thursday as it churned through the Gulf of Mexico toward the southeast coast of Texas, the National Hurricane Center said. At 18h00 GMT on Thursday, Don was 475 miles (765 kilometers) from Corpus Christi and 430 miles from Brownsville, both on the Gulf coast. The storm was expected to make landfall Friday or Saturday.

Maximum sustained winds had reached 45 miles per hour, and Don was moving northwest at a speed of 15 mph, the Miami-based NHC said on its website. "On this track, the center of Don should... approach the Texas coast on Friday and reach the Texas coast Friday night or Saturday," it said, adding that the storm could gather strength in the next 36 hours....

Tropical Storm Don north of the Yucatan Peninsula, July 28, 2011. Shot by NASA

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