How strong do you think Arlene will be?

[HurryKane]

I bet TS near New Orleans, 4th of July weekend. And that's my unofficial, unbiased^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H totally biased opinion, based on reading the current formation of love bug guts on my car bumper.

-HK

[dhweather]

I saw the love bug guts, but do not have the ability to read them.

[Wpwxguy]

Laugh if you want, but down here in the deep south you can just about make a connection between the swarming of the Luv Bugs and tropical development. When we have a major Luv Bug outbreak, it just seems to me that we get a storm in the GOM. LOL! Its true, laugh if you want. If the bugs are slim, there's nothing to worry about. If there plentiful, look out! This was not an official forecast and is not intended for emergency planning and/or public information purposes. Please refer to Entomology 101 for an official forecast discussion. LOL!

[dhweather]

The love bug population took it on the chin in the dought like summers
of the last several years. 1999 and 2000 - lots of bugs, and dwindling since.

Hardly any in the last three years.

[skywarn]

Arlene will be a Cat 5 into the Bahamas then into Miami. It will form on June 25th and eventually hit the Northern Gulf Coast as a Cat 4 causing huge damage.

It would not be the 1st time for a Cat 4 to strike the Northern Gulf Coast in June:
Hurricane Audrey:
Early in the hurricane season, tropical storms often form in the Gulf of Mexico, western Caribbean Sea, or the Bay of Campeche off the coast of Mexico. Hurricane Audrey, a June storm, fit this pattern. It is the most powerful June storm on record in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea or Atlantic Ocean. Audrey formed in the Bay of Campeche as a tropical storm on June 24, 1957.
Audrey moved due north from there and intensified rapidly into a hurricane in the southern Gulf of Mexico by June 26. The storm moved north toward the Texas and Louisiana coast and made landfall on June 27. The storm intensified rapidly while crossing the Gulf, making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.
The Louisiana coastal area is especially vulnerable to a storm surge because of its low elevation. Storm surge from Audrey exceeded 12 feet on the Louisiana coast as the storm made landfall near Beaumont, Texas. Gulf waters rushed over 25 miles inland.
Many homes were destroyed in the Lake Charles area of Lousiana, and offshore oil installations suffered heavy damage. Estimates placed damage totals at $150 million. 390 people perished.
http://www.ezl.com/~fireball/Disaster18.htm

[weatherSnoop]

I wish I knew the love bug theory last year...still have not been able to save the paint between Ivan and Jeanne... back and forth to south Ga.

[mobilebay]

I wish I knew the love bug theory last year...still have not been able to save the paint between Ivan and Jeanne... back and forth to south Ga.

I know the love bugs where horrible last year after Ivan. The worst I've ever seen in my 31 Years.

[vbhoutex]

I have lived along the Gulf coast for 50 years and have seen enough love bugs to last the universe an eternity, but I have never heard the "love bug connection" with the development of tropical weather before. Maybe I will pay closer attention this year. So far we are in good shape as they are few and far between now.

[Josephine96]

Tropical storm or minimal hurricane.. It'll take a path eerily similar to Charley's

[swimaster20]

Bump, due to new developments.

[cajungal]

Maybe minimal Tropical Storm. Not much more. This will mostly be a rainmaker only.