Tropical storm Alex: Oil spill could worsen

Saturday, in the western Caribbean, Tropical Storm Alex was growing in strength. It is too soon to determine how or if Alex will affect the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to the National Hurricane Center’s forecasters, in Miami, the maximum sustained winds of the storm are 65 miles per hour. If Alex’s winds hit 75 miles per hour, it will be classified as a hurricane.

Forecaster, Jack Bevens said models show that Alex will travel over the Yucatan Peninsula this weekend. According to Bevens it is too soon to know if the storm will cross over the area of the oil spill. The predicted path has Alex missing the area but as conditions change so can the path of the storm.

The coast of Belize and the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula is under a tropical storm warning. Alex is 30 miles southeast of Belize City and moving west at 12 miles per hour.

If the path of Alex shifts toward the oil spill, it would affect the clean up efforts. The clean up would have to be abandoned for a while. When the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20th, it killed 11 workers and more than 69 million gallons of crude oil have leaked into the Gulf of Mexico. Some oil is being carried to the surface and collected on a ship. Two relief wells are being drilled, which hopefully will be done by August, to stop the leak. Some oil is being burned at the surface. It is unknown what rough weather would do to the oil in the water.