An organizing cluster of storms over the western Caribbean east of Central America is expected to gradually develop into a named storm over the next day or two and could quickly strengthen into a formidable hurricane as it accelerates toward the northeastern Gulf Coast – including parts of the Florida panhandle and Big Bend – by late Thursday into early Friday.

U.S. oil producers on Monday were scrambling to evacuate staff from Gulf of Mexico oil production platforms as forecasters predicted the second major hurricane in two weeks could tear through offshore oil producing fields.