Hurricane Marco, Tropical Storm Laura Threaten Alabama Coast

MOBILE, AL — In what's shaping up to be an unprecedented weather event, Alabama is bracing for the possibility that both Hurricane Marco and Tropical Storm Laura will threaten coastal communities with heavy rains and life-threatening storm surge.

The National Hurricane Center on Sunday upgraded Marco, the first of the two storms expected to make landfall, to a hurricane. Winds were at 75 miles per hour as the storm was passing through the Gulf of Mexico around 11 a.m. Sunday.

The projected tracks of both storms shifted Saturday afternoon, according to the latest forecasts released by U.S. National Hurricane Center. Both are pointed to move through the Gulf of Mexico with Marco primarily hitting Louisiana Monday afternoon and Laura making landfall in the same general area Wednesday, a mere 36 hours later.

While Louisiana appears most at-risk, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas are also in jeopardy.

Ahead of Marco's landfall, the NHC issued numerous storm surge and hurricane watches Saturday afternoon along the Alabama and northern gulf coast.

A storm surge watch is in effect from Sabine Pass eastward to the Alabama/Florida border. This includes Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas, Lake Borgne, and Mobile Bay.

A hurricane watch is in effect from Intracoastal City Louisiana eastward to the Mississippi/Alabama border, including Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas and the New Orleans metropolitan area.

Finally, a tropical storm watch is in effect from the Mississippi/Alabama border eastward to the Alabama/Florida border.

According to the National Weather Service office in Mobile, coastal areas near the city are at high risk for rip currents. The NWS is also forecasting surf heights of at least 4-6 feet on Monday, and storm surge from 3-5 feet along the Alabama coast.

The combination of both storms could result in heavy rainfall. NWS predicts Mobile could see 4-6 inches of rain, while areas closer to the coast could receive 6-8 inches and those farther inland could see 2-4 inches.

As of Saturday, Marco had moved past the western coast of Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico. It was heading north-northwest at 13 mph with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph.

Laura was centered about 125 miles east-southeast of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, late Saturday afternoon, moving west at 18 mph with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.

Forecasters said that while atmospheric conditions were favorable for Laura to grow, its passage over Puerto Rico and the mountains of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba could tear it apart or weaken it before it entered warm Gulf waters conducive to growth.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Tropical Storm Marco is expected to reach hurricane strength before it hits the gulf coast on Monday.

wo hurricanes have never appeared in the Gulf of Mexico at the same time, according to records going back to at least 1900, Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach told the Associated Press.

The last time two tropical storms were in the Gulf together was in 1959, he said.

The last time two storms made landfall in the United States within 24 hours of each other was in 1933, Klotzbach added.

While the two storms can't merge to become a single "super" hurricane, what could happen is something called the Fujiwhara effect, which describes the rotation of two storms around each other. It's most common with tropical cyclones such as typhoons or hurricanes, according to USA Today.

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