Hurricane Expected in Gulf by Friday Afternoon

It has been a quiet hurricane season for the United States...so far.  However, Tropical Storm Karen is trying to wake things up a bit.

The storm is currently churning in the south central Gulf of Mexico.  Karen's top sustained winds are clocked at 65mph which makes it just 9mph short of becoming a hurricane.  Forecasters believe that Karen will become a minimal hurricane by Friday afternoon or evening.  However, it's expected to revert back to a tropical storm when it makes landfall Saturday somewhere from near New Orleans to Fort Walton Beach, Florida.  East Texas should not be affected by this storm.

There are no other storms in the tropics as of now, however, hurricane season continues until November 30th.