Tropical Storm Felix Heads For Bullseye Of Warm Water

Our sixth storm of the Atlantic hurricane season has just arrived -- Felix -- and it's in the warm, warm Caribbean. Accordingly, Felix is forecast to become the second hurricane of the year after Dean and to track on a similar straight path across the Caribbean towards Nicaragua and Honduras or the Yucatan and Belize. Any northerly deviation in the forecast would, once again, increase the chance of Felix getting into the Gulf of Mexico and threatening the United States.

In terms of intensity, the official forecast indicates steady strengthening, but so far, nothing like the Category 4 and then 5 storm that we saw with Dean. I can't help worrying, though, after glancing at the Caribbean's heat potential as of August 30 and seeing a bullseye right along Felix's path near 15 N and 75 W:

As you can see, there's still lots of energy in the Caribbean capable of creating the very strongest of hurricanes. And September, the busiest Atlantic basin month, has just begun.