The tropics are going wild! Hanna, Ike, and Josephine are all threats.

Just as New Orleans and the rest of the gulf coast takes a deep breath from making it through relatively unscathed from Gustav, the tropics are heating up once again. There are now three tropical storms in the Atlantic Ocean that bear watching in the next week or two and could certainly affect both the weather as well as the economy here in the United States.

The first storm to watch closely is Tropical Storm Hanna. Yesterday the storm was a weak hurricane and today the storm is a strong tropical storm with winds of 70 mph, but it is forecast to strengthen to hurricane levels again by sometime tommorrow. The most likely scenario appears to be a landfall somewhere along the southeastern coast of the United States between Jacksonville, Florida and Wilmington, North Carolina. The storm looks like it will be a hurricane as it hits land, but it likely won't be a major hurricane. Current computer models are pointing toward this storm being a category one hurricane as it comes ashore.

The second storm to keep an eye on is Tropical Storm Ike. Ike is located way out in the Atlantic Ocean, over 1,000 miles away from the Leeward Islands and has winds of 60 mph. Ike is expected to become a hurricane in the next couple of days and has the potential to become a larger hurricane before it makes any landfall. The current projections are calling for Ike to be somewhere between the Bahamas and Cuba by the end of this coming weekend (September 7). Since it is still so far out in the Atlantic there is no way of telling whether it could impact the United States, but current trends make this look like a very real possibility. Ike has the potential to be a major hurricane when it makes landfall, wherever that ends up taking place.

The final of the three storms in the Atlantic Ocean tropical storm train is Tropical Storm Josephine. Josephine is even farther out in the Atlantic than Ike is, sitting just off the Cape Verde Islands, and more than 1,500 miles from the Leeward Islands. Of the three storms in the Atlantic this appears to be the one that is least likely to impact the United States. Computer models show this storm turning north and possibly even turning away from making any type of landfall. Josephine has just formed and currently has winds of 40 mph, but it should strengthen some in the next few days.

Will any of these storms affect the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and hurt the already battered American economy? It is far too early to tell that, but it is definitely a possibility, with Ike probably being the largest risk of the three storms. Gas prices have fallen more than 15% from their peak over a month ago, but all it would take is one major hurricane to cause gas prices to jump once again.

Keep an eye on the National Hurricane Center as well as Weather Underground if you would like to track these three storms throughout the day. Both of these sites provide a wealth of information as far as the intensity of the storms as well as the projected paths.

- Update on Hurricane Ike (Morning of September 12th, 2008)

Hurricane Ike is turning out to be the major threat that many feared it could be. The National Weather Service is issuing strikingly scary warnings tonight for all residents of the Galveston area to evacuate now, warning that staying behind means they will face a "certain death." I have personally never seen any language this strong.

The reason behind the strong warnings is the amazing size of the storm and the expected storm surge. There is great concern that the storm surge could cause disastrous flooding in the Galveston area if the hurricane makes landfall in the area currently being projected (as of 11pm eastern on September 11, 2008). Please stay safe everyone!