Latest Gulf of Mexico News
Push to map Great Lakes bottom gains momentum amid promises effort will help fishing and shipping
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Jennifer Boehme grew up scouting beaches around her home in St. Petersburg, Florida, for whatever she could find. Rocks, sand dollars, coquina mollusks — anything the ocean gave up. Now, 40 years later, Boehme wants to launch another treasure hunt. As...
Helene becomes a major Category 3 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico as it churns toward northwestern Florida
Helene is upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane as it barrels across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida, forecasters say
Judge dismisses lawsuit seeking to protect dolphins along the Mississippi Gulf Coast
GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to protect dolphins along the Mississippi Gulf Coast after dozens were killed or sickened in 2019 following the prolonged opening of a spillway used for flood control. U.S. District Court Judge Louis Guirola...
Thousands in the dark as Hurricane Francine strikes Louisiana, raising flood fears
MORGAN CITY, La. (AP) — Hurricane Francine slammed into the Louisiana coast Wednesday evening as a dangerous Category 2 storm that knocked out electricity to more than a quarter-million customers and threatened widespread flooding as it sent a potentially deadly storm surge rushing inland along...
Warm oceans strengthened Hurricane Francine and could power more Fall storms
Warm water in the Gulf of Mexico helped quickly strengthen Hurricane Francine, creating danger for Louisiana residents rushing to buy supplies and secure their homes ahead of the storm's landfall Wednesday. Warm ocean water is essential for forming and strengthening hurricanes. Heat...
Conservationists try to protect ecologically rich Alabama delta from development, climate change
MOBILE-TENSAW DELTA, Ala. (AP) — Thousands of American lotuses carpet the water's surface, faces turned toward the morning sun. Bright yellow warblers flit among cypress trees along a creek bank. A paddlefish jumps as a motorboat rounds a bend. The Mobile-Tensaw Delta — a lush,...
Takeaways from AP's story on Alabama's ecologically important Mobile-Tensaw Delta and its watershed
Alabama’s Mobile-Tensaw Delta is a more-than 400-square-mile (1,036-square-kilometer) expanse of cypress swamps, oxbow lakes, marshland, hardwood stands and rivers unusually rich in plant and animal diversity. It's also a critical conduit between the rest of Alabama and the Gulf of...
Same storm, different names: How Invest 97L could graduate to Hurricane Debby
It's an area of low atmospheric pressure, thunderstorms and wind sloshing out of the Caribbean Sea across Cuba, into the Gulf of Mexico and toward Florida. But by the time it dissipates, weather forecasters may have called it by five different names. First it was Invest 97L, then it...