Wilma set to enter Gulf as tropical storm

I just took Ranger One, LST's smuggling hurricane reconnaissance aircraft out for a spin around the Caymans, and it's not looking good out there. Tropical Depression #24, currently hovering over the western Caribbean, is expected to strenghten into Tropical Storm Wilma today. Unfortunately, the National Hurricane Center has it heading into the Gulf later this week:

Maybe we'll get to see whether Ray Nagin learned anything.

Here's the NHC's take. Here's the skinny from the Weather Channel. Weather Underground puts Wilma on track to graze the Yucatan, though the models suggest otherwise.

Wilma is the last name on the Center's 2005 list. If more storms develop, they'll be named frat-boy style. Thus, the season's 22nd storm would be named Alpha, just to remind us all that the NHC is a government organization.

Stay tuned to LST's SuperDopplerStormTrackerSkyWatch coverage, where we don't have to fake it.