Update: Erika Falls Apart Over Cuba
Erika has been a pretty typical hurricane in that it has given forecasters fits when trying to predict exactly what the 5th named storm of the season is going to do as far as it's direction is concerned. As of Friday, new predictions showed that Erika might be entering the Gulf of Mexico soon, but all those predictions can go out the window now.
As the system began to approach Cuba, the storm fell apart and has sustained winds high enough to barely qualify as a tropical storm. While that is good news, keep in mind that there is a chance, however small, that Erika could reform once the system crosses the island of Cuba and moves back into the open waters of the gulf of Mexico. Again, the chances of that are slim, but it could happen as hurricanes are so hard to predict as Erika has proven from the get go.
We've been very lucky so far this hurricane season and let's hope we stay that way. We'll continue to monitor Erika for you and if the situation changes we'll update you right here. In the meantime, since we're in the peak of the season, you might want to take some time this weekend and make sure everything in your "hurricane kit" is there and functioning properly. let's hope you don't need it again this year.