2 storms pose possible double threat to US Gulf Coast

Two tropical systems could become nearly simultaneous threats to the U.S. Gulf Coast early next week. They could even get sucked into an odd dance around each other. Or they could fall apart as they soak the Caribbean and Mexico this weekend.

Newly formed Tropical Storm Laura and a depression that is likely to become Tropical Storm Marco have such bad and good environments ahead of them that their futures were not clear Friday. Computer forecast models varied so much that some saw Laura becoming a major hurricane nearing the U.S., while others saw it dissipating.

If both storms survive the weekend, Laura was forecast to head toward the Florida and Alabama end of the Gulf Coast while the other one aimed at the Texas and Louisiana region.

“A lot of people are going to be impacted by rainfall and storm surge in the Gulf of Mexico,” said National Weather Service Tropical Program Coordinator Joel Cline. “Since you simply don’t know you really need to make precautions.”

Two hurricanes have never appeared in the Gulf of Mexico at the same time, according to records going back to at least 1900, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. The last time two tropical storms were in the Gulf together was in 1959, he said.

The National Hurricane Center on Friday issued tropical storm warnings for the Northern Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico. Laura was forecast to smack Puerto Rico on Saturday morning, go over or near the Dominican Republic and Haiti late Saturday and Cuba on Sunday.

Laura, which set a record for the earliest 12th named storm of a season, was centered Friday afternoon about 175 miles (335 kilometers) east-southeast of the northern Leeward Islands, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph). It was heading west at 18 mph (30...