Season's 1st tropical storm forms near Yucatan

Season's 1st tropical storm forms near Yucatan

ATLANTA -- Tropical Storm Alex, the first named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, formed on Saturday near Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula with the potential to become a hurricane and disrupt efforts to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.


Alex had sustained winds of 46 mph (73 km per hour) and was located about 200 miles (320 km) east of Belize City, Belize.


It was moving west-northwest at 10 mph (16 kph) on a path that was expected to take it toward Belize and over the Yucatan Peninsula during the weekend and then into the Gulf of Mexico, where BP officials are battling to contain a massive oil spill.


"Once in the Gulf of Mexico ... in a couple of days the cyclone could gain some strength and Alex is forecast to become a hurricane by the end of the forecast period," the center said.


It was too early to know whether Alex could threaten oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico, or whether it could affect clean-up operations from the oil spill and possibly force a temporary shutdown



Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Season+tropical+storm+forms+near+Yucatan/3205895/story.html#ixzz0ryhalQNj

when will we humans learn that we cannot control mother nature?
tptb keep on tryin', tho