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Tropical storm Chris may not become hurricane

Posted on: Thursday, 3 August 2006, 04:08 CDT

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Chris weakened on Thursday and forecasters said they did not expect it to become the season's first hurricane as it headed west toward the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. oil facilities.

At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT), Chris was about 135 miles north of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and heading west near 13 miles per hour (20 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

That track would bring it north of the Dominican Republic, Haiti and to Cuba's coast by early Sunday.

Its top sustained winds had slowed to near 45 mph (75 kph), making Chris a minimal tropical storm, and little change was expected during the next 24 hours.

"Currently, we're not anticipating or forecasting Chris to become a hurricane," Michelle Mainelli, a hurricane specialist at the center, told Reuters.

The Bahamas downgraded a hurricane watch to a tropical storm watch for the Turks and Caicos islands and for the islands of the southeastern Bahamas, meaning tropical storm conditions could arrive within 36 hours.

A tropical storm warning for Puerto Rico and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands was discontinued. A tropical storm watch remained in effect for much of the northern Dominican coast.

Chris' forecast path, although subject to considerable uncertainty, could take it into the Gulf on Monday. But forecasters said it was expected to continue to weaken and even dissipate over the next several days.

Experts have predicted this year could see another active Atlantic hurricane season with several major storms though nothing like the record number seen in 2005. Chris was the third tropical storm of the 2006 Atlantic season.

Oil and natural gas prices had risen on the possible threat to drilling platforms and exploration rigs in the Gulf, where the waters are especially warm -- as they were last year when they fueled Hurricanes Katrina and Rita before they slammed into the Louisiana and Texas coastlines.

The hurricanes of 2005 shut a quarter of U.S. crude output and sent oil prices to record highs.

Forecasters have predicted up to 17 tropical storms and hurricanes this year. Last year saw a record 28, including Katrina, the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Katrina killed more than 1,300 people.

(Additional reporting by Michael Christie in Miami)

Source: REUTERS

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