Storms pose no immediate threat to State

While warm waters churn in the Atlantic Ocean as the hurricane season has entered what traditionally is its most-active period, five storm systems do not appear to pose an immediate threat to Florida. The National Hurricane Center started the week tracking the systems, with three named tropical storms --- Emily, Franklin and Gert. One possible impact could be on gasoline prices from “potential Tropical Cyclone Nine,” which was moving west in the Gulf of Mexico after sweeping across South Florida over the weekend. The system had a 90 percent chance of growing in the next couple of days into a larger system as it heads toward the southern Texas coast. If named, it will be Harold. Mark Jenkins, a spokesman for the AAA auto club, warned Monday that gas prices could spike if refineries along the Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana coasts are affected. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Franklin is expected to bring heavy rain to Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. Tropical Storm Gert, which was several hundred miles east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands, was producing 40 mph maximum sustained winds. But the National Hurricane Center noted the system “barely qualifies a tropical cyclone.” Meanwhile, the center discontinued advisories on Emily after an 11 a.m. update on Monday, saying the system was simply a “remnant” of itself with little chance of “regeneration.” Officials also were watching a wave that was producing showers and thunderstorms over the Cabo Verde Islands and portions of the tropical eastern Atlantic. The wave was given a 40 percent chance of growing into a named system in the next two days, with the odds at 70 percent for formation within a week. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration considers the period between mid-August and mid-October the most active period of the six-month hurricane season, with Sept. 10 pegged as the peak.