As Texas prepares for heavy rains and possible gale force winds this weekend brought on by Tropical Depression 8 currently in the central Gulf of Mexico, the US Coast Guard has begun to restrict port activities.
The National Hurricane Center on June 23 issued a tropical storm watch from Port Mansfield, Texas, just above the Mexico border, to High Island, just north of Galveston, but noted that tropical storm warnings could be issued later today as the storm progresses westward towards land.
The NHC said that slow strengthening of the depression is expected and has the possibility to become a tropical storm – to be named Hanna -- in the next 12 to 24 hours.
"On the forecast track, the center of the depression is expected to move across the northwestern Gulf of Mexico today and Friday and make landfall along the Texas coast on Saturday," according to the NHC advisory 3, the latest issued on June 23.
Port Condition Whiskey
As a precautionary measure, the US Coast Guard has issued Port Condition Whisky for the ports of Corpus Christi, as well as for the Houston-Galveston and the Freeport region. The ports remain open to both commercial and recreational activity but are on alert that gale force winds up to 39 mph are predicted to arrive in 72 hours.
The NHC said the storm is expected to bring between 3 and 5 inches of rain, with some portions of Texas and Louisiana receiving as much as 8 inches, which could result in flash flooding in some regions.
Flooding is expected to be the main concern of Tropical Depression 8, which could impact some refineries in Texas, home to about 30% of total US refining capacity, and refiners are keeping an eye on the storm.
Refiners like Phillips 66, which has Texas coastal refineries, are keeping a close eye on the weather.
"Phillips 66 closely monitors tropical storms, hurricanes and other weather events that could threaten our operations," a company spokesperson said July 23.
Gonzalo faces uncertain future
Tropical Storm Gonzalo is expected to enter the Gulf of Mexico early Monday, the NHC said, but impacts on the Windward Islands in the eastern Caribbean are expected on Saturday.
Hurricane watches could be expanded across all the Windward Islands but there is "significant uncertainty" in how strong Gonzalo will be when it moves across the islands and into the US Gulf of Mexico..
Gonzalo appears to have lost strength and is unlikely to make it into US Gulf Coast oil producing regions or near enough to the coast to impact US refineries.
"Looking at its current path of the storm, it does not look to be hitting major refineries," said Lennie Rodriguez, analyst with S&P Global Analytics, adding that impact on Venezuelan refining operations would be "minimal" because most Venezuelan refining capacity is offline.
