Gulf Coast Storm Taking Eerie Path – Bringing Higher Gas Prices for Us

The news on Tropical Storm Isaac is not good for the Gulf region as the path has a distinctively familiar path for a few years ago, and the residual effects will hit pump up prices at the pumps in the weeks to come.

Right now it is looking like (according to weather experts) that Isaac will be a Category 1 hurricane by the time the storm hits landfall.  Projections say that the storm should reach into the Gulf region by sometime on Tuesday, prompted evacuations along a wide area of the Gulf Coast.

FOX News reported early this morning that Tropical Storm Isaac has top sustained winds of 65 MPH.  The National Hurricane Center predicted it would grow to a hurricane with winds of between 74 and 95 mph over the warm water and possibly hit somewhere along a roughly 300-mile stretch from the bayous southwest of New Orleans to the edge of the Florida Panhandle.  If this sounds eerily familiar of a hurricane, it's because the path reflects that of Hurricane Katrina.

Tomorrow will mark the 7th anniversary of the devastating Katrine hurricane.  The Gulf region has only in recent times managed to rebound from the damage caused from the Category 5 storm of 2005 which had winds as high as 157 MPH.  Although the strength of Isaac will be nowhere in the ballpark of Katrina, the region cannot afford this storm to cause damage.

Isaac will already be costing most Americans at the pumps soon, because the storm could force the closure of 12 Gulf Coast refineries.  FOX News reports that he refineries in that area produce about 22% of our supply of fuel, 7 percent of the nation's natural gas and more than 40 percent of refining capacity.

The average cost nationwide of a gallon of gas is up to $3.75 which is up $0.26 from last month.  According to some economists, we could see $3.80 a gallon pretty soon.