The weirdest year in decades is adding to its reputation this week when two dangerous storms strike the Gulf Coast within 72 hours of each other. Record keepers say that hasn’t happened since 1959.
Tropical Storm Marco, scheduled to make landfall Monday night, is expected to move along the Louisiana coastline and into Texas. That’s basically the warmup for a more powerful storm, Laura, which was over Cuba on Monday but then will move into the Gulf and head northwest toward the United States.
As of Monday, Laura was expected to become a Category 2 storm, with winds of about 100 mph, by the time it comes ashore somewhere in western Louisiana on Wednesday or Thursday. It’s then expected to curve to the northwest, increasing the likelihood that it will affect Southwest Mississippi.
With obvious exceptions like Katrina, hurricanes are usually tolerable this far inland. But two in the space of three days is beyond bizarre.
Add double-barreled storms to 2020’s list of craziness: A pandemic, a recession, nationwide protests over police brutality. We are taking a lot of punches, and hopefully the hits won’t line up like this for another several decades
