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Tropical Storm Rafael has formed in the Caribbean south of Jamaica, sparking a round of evacuations from US offshore oil and natural gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
Rafael, the Atlantic’s 17th storm of this hurricane season, had top winds of 45 miles (72 kilometers) per hour about 175 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica, the US National Hurricane Center said. Hurricane warnings and watches have been posted for the Cayman Islands and Cuba, and there is a tropical storm watch in place for the Florida Keys.
The system is on an unusual track for November and will likely intersect with leases that produce about 1.7 million barrels per day of oil and 1.8 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas, with BP Plc, Shell Plc, Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Chevron Corp. most affected, based on the cone of the probable path of the storm and Bloomberg calculations of data from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the hurricane center.
Rafael’s winds are forecast to peak at 100 mph Wednesday, making it a Category 2 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale as it nears Cuba, the hurricane center said. It will likely weaken, however, as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico toward Louisiana later in the week, encountering wind shear as it comes north, said Matt Rogers, president of Commodity Weather Group.
Over the next few days the system is expected to dump heavy rain across Jamaica and Cuba before drenching parts of Florida and the Gulf Coast.
“Given significant uncertainties in the long-range forecast track and intensity, it is too soon to determine what, if any, impacts could occur,’’ said Richard Pasch, a senior hurricane specialist with the US center.
Five hurricanes have struck the US already in 2024, including Helene, which devastated the Appalachian Mountain region.
In other weather news:
Spain: Deadly storms are continuing to bring chaos to the country. Flooded streets brought traffic to a standstill in Barcelona on Monday, while local train services were suspended. Parts of Catalonia are under a red alert for torrential rains. Southern Catalonia borders Valencia, which is grappling with the aftermath of floods that killed at least 217 people, with hundreds more still missing.
Meanwhile, the western coast of Spain is bracing for remnants of Tropical Storm Patty, which dissipated over the North Atlantic. The system is forecast to bring 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 7.6 cm) of rain, with some areas getting up to 5 inches, across parts of Spain and Portugal.
Pacific: Tropical Storm Yinxing has formed east of the Philippines. It is possible it could hit the Philippines as a typhoon later this week, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.
--With assistance from Rodrigo Orihuela, Robert Tuttle and Lucia Kassai.
(Updates with storm details throughout)
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