Hurricane trackers warn 39m Americans of 'tropical trouble' forming off US coast
The system, still in its early stages, has the potential to develop into a tropical or subtropical storm by the end of the week.
As of 8am ET Monday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) gave it a 20 percent chance of development over the next seven days.
Stormy conditions could affect more than 39 million people in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and the Carolinas, including both residents and holiday travelers.
Coastal communities from Apalachee Bay and Big Bend to Tampa Bay are especially vulnerable, forecasters said.
Even if the system doesn't develop into a named storm, the NHC and Florida emergency officials warn it could still bring heavy rainfall, gusty winds, dangerous surf, and life-threatening rip currents.
'More tropical trouble possible in the Gulf this week,' said Meteorologist Zack Shields. 'Not impacting Texas because the tropical disturbance is heading for Florida.'
Locals and holiday travelers heading to the beaches are being urged to stay alert, as rough surf, dangerous rip currents, and gusty winds are possible, especially if the system strengthens into a tropical depression or storm.
The system, still in its early stages, has the potential to develop into a tropical or subtropical storm by the end of the week
Warm ocean waters and low wind shear, conditions that help storm clouds organize, are creating a favorable environment for tropical formation.
While the odds of full development remain modest, forecasters warn that even a weak or slow-moving system could bring significant impacts to the region.
Meteorologist Chris Sowers said the area could see multiple inches of rain between Wednesday and Sunday, just as millions head to beaches and parks for Independence Day celebrations.
In the National Weather Service's Tallahassee region, daily rain chances exceed 85 percent through Wednesday, July 2.
Further south along the coast, rainfall totals could reach double digits in the coming days. The heaviest rain is expected on Thursday, July 3.
Rough weather is expected to arrive by midweek and linger through the holiday weekend.
The system currently stretches from the northeastern Gulf of Mexico across the Florida Peninsula and into the Atlantic waters off the Southeast coast.
The disturbance being tracked is referred to as a tropical cyclone in meteorological terms. This is a rotating system of organized clouds and thunderstorms that forms over warm ocean water with a closed circulation at the surface.
The NHC and Florida Emergency Management officials warn that even without full storm formation, the system could bring locally heavy rainfall, gusty winds, rough surf, and life-threatening rip currents.
If wind speeds increase, it may become a tropical depression, then a tropical storm, and possibly a hurricane.
The NHC only assigns names to storms once they reach tropical storm status with sustained winds of at least 39 mph.
Currently, this potential storm has no name. If it intensifies, it will be named Chantal, following Tropical Storm Barry, which made landfall in Veracruz, Mexico on June 29 before weakening.
Despite the low odds of rapid development, the system is being monitored closely due to its proximity to land and the timing with the holiday travel peak.
'This disturbance poses no direct threat to Florida over the next five to seven days,' said the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
'But could bring weather hazards along both the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.'
NOAA, the National Weather Service, and the NHC are using satellite tools and color-coded maps to signal tropical development risk: yellow for low, orange for medium, and red for high. This system is currently within the yellow zone.
'If a system is near land and has the potential to develop, we won't wait to issue advisories,' said NHC Deputy Director Jamie Rhome.
'This helps residents prepare.'
Meteorologist Jennifer Gray added, 'Many Fourth of July barbecues, beach trips, and outdoor activities in the region may need a plan B.
'Heavy rain looks likely as we head into the holiday weekend.'
So far, there are no tropical storm watches or warnings in effect.
But emergency services and forecasters advise residents to check local weather alerts and NHC advisories frequently.
The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1 and runs through November 30.
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Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Opinion: Why Las Vegas is in a death spiral
It has just gone 6.30am at Hurrah's Casino on the legendary Las Vegas Strip and 60-year-old Bettie has completed a marathon four-hour session on the slot machines. 'One hundred and sixty dollars down,' she tells me, puffing on a cigarette and heading gingerly out into the 40-degree morning heat. On Las Vegas Boulevard, Bettie points towards the Mirage Hotel opposite, the strip's first and most iconic mega-resort, which closed earlier this week after 35 years in operation. 'You wanna know Vegas?' she asks with a grin. 'That was Vegas.' Once the entertainment capital of the world – famous for its luxury hotels, high-end casinos, breathtaking shows and legendary musical residencies – Las Vegas has morphed into something altogether more downbeat and, as I discovered this week, sinister. Visitor numbers are plummeting. The first quarter of 2025 saw a 6.9 percent decrease in tourism on the same period last year, driven largely by a fall in international tourists. Remarkably, Americans now make up 88 percent of all visits to Vegas. The number of British tourists has fallen by 25 percent since a peak of almost three-quarters of a million in 2019. Rip-off prices are partially to blame. Las Vegas made headlines earlier this year when it emerged that MGM's Aria Hotel is selling 500ml bottles of water from the minibar for an unfathomable $26 (£19). Indeed, prices on the Strip have spiralled out of control in recent years with tourists telling the Mail of spending $15 (£11) on a fruit juice, $20 (£15) on coffee and a croissant and $18.25 (£14) on a small can of Bud Light beer. 'I would say these are New York prices, but they're not,' says 33-year-old investment banker Victor. 'They're even more expensive. I had a steak with a friend at a chain restaurant in the Cosmopolitan and one course set us back $300. It's the tips that get you, with up 25 percent of the bill the norm in some places.' He adds with a wry smile: 'Maybe I'm in the wrong profession.' But prices are only part of the problem. The city's opioid crisis has become so bad – especially among the homeless – that one leading rehabilitation charity has been paid by certain casinos to forcibly detain and remove those lingering around their premises and haranguing paying guests. Meanwhile, the proliferation of online gambling and indeed the emergence of other entertainment hubs – notably parts of the Middle East such as Dubai and Riyadh – have taken the shine off Sin City. While once Vegas was also the boxing capital of the world and the place to see Mike Tyson in his prime, today's heavyweights are shunning it for the riches of Saudi Arabia. British champion Anthony Joshua, for example, fought two of his last three bouts at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. And so, with skyrocketing prices, global sport stars and musicians choosing to perform elsewhere, casinos ditching live games for electronic betting terminals and a drugs crisis ravaging the city, Las Vegas is on the ropes. The question is: can it recover? 'We used to be considered Sin City,' agrees David Marlon, founder of the hugely successful rehab clinic Vegas Stronger. 'Glitz, glamour, the place you go to for the best DJs, the best nightclubs, the best gambling, the best resorts… But today, you know there's gonna be panhandling, vagrancy, the smell of weed… and it's gonna be kind of dirty.' Homelessness in Las Vegas has exploded, with a conservative estimate of around 8,000 people unhoused across a city of just over half a million. That's more homeless people than in London, a city almost 16 times as populous. However, according to Marlon – who entered the charity sector after two decades working in insurance, during which time he developed and recovered from his own cocaine addiction – homelessness is not the real issue. 'It's really an addiction epidemic,' he tells me from his office, a short flight of stairs from the clinic's medical rooms, yoga studio, boxing gym and therapy centre. 'Some 94 percent of the homeless people who walk through our door have a diagnosed substance-use disorder. And it's three things: alcohol, opioids and amphetamines.' Indeed, walk along the busy Las Vegas Boulevard at any time of day and you will see people clearly homeless and often under the influence of drugs. One morning I saw a man washing his clothes in a fountain beside Caesar's Palace, hanging them to dry on the hotel fencing. Another – who can't have been more than 40 – was stopped by security walking between blackjack tables in Caesar's Palace. His arm was in a cast, while his jeans were ripped and riding down towards his knees. In one hand he carried a bottle of unidentified contents while the other arm hung limp by his side, his face expressionless, his eyes vacant. Perhaps most alarming, however, are the hundreds of people I saw each day, passed out in the searing heat – which topped 46 degrees this week – their skin burnt and peeled, a ghastly tricolour of black, red and pink. 'We lost 520 to heat-related death last summer,' David admits, grimly. His downtown rehab facility is just a stone's throw from a number of improvised roadside encampments where the city's homeless have erected shelters out of old tarpaulin and umbrellas. 'And we're going to lose more this summer… nobody should be living on the streets here in the Mojave Desert.' But while David's 'calling' is the well-being of the addicts he helps, the casinos are more interested in protecting the welfare of their paying customers – or at least their wallets. 'Kenny Epstein,' David begins with a smile. 'He runs the El Cortez hotel on the Strip. He said, 'Dave, my high-rollers are telling me that their wives are saying they can't come down here any more because they're getting harassed in the street when they leave!' 'So, I had my outreach team walk around his casino three times a day, and we kind of scoop up anybody homeless and put them in the van. It's what I call a 'compassionate assertive intervention'. Because there's no real conversation to be had with a guy who's actively psychotic on methamphetamines.' 'Vegas is a billion-dollar brand,' David concludes, showing me a number of over-sized cheques from hotels including El Cortez, The Venetian and The Mirage. 'And the casinos recognize that these 8,000 unhoused are tarnishing our brand.' And yet, when it comes to the Las Vegas 'brand', it is rising prices that seem – above all else – to be leaving a sour taste in tourists' mouths. Of course, prices are high across America, not just in Vegas. In fact, the cost of living Stateside is more than 15 percent higher than in the UK. However, the Vegas Strip stands head and shoulders above most other parts of the country. 'Even in some of the more local establishments, prices recently have jumped up 25, 30 percent,' local writer and Vegas expert Sam Novak tells the Mail. 'It's no longer affordable to do the simplest of things. From a simple dinner to a night out with cocktails for your friends, it's prohibitive. It has already damaged the appeal of Vegas.' The cost of accommodation, too, is a factor. Once a famous value destination, the average hotel stay in Vegas in January of this year cost $208 (£155) per night. That's up from $171 (£127) in 2022. And these numbers do not include the astronomic 'resort fees' – supposedly to pay for facilities such as swimming pools and gyms – which became commonplace a decade ago and are added to bills regardless of whether one uses the facilities or not. For prestige hotels such as the Four Seasons, Encore, Caesar's Palace and The Bellagio, the additional cost is more than $60 (£45) per night. On top of this, the vast majority of hotels charge an average of $25 (£19) a day for parking, adding another $100 onto the already bloated cost of a long weekend. Other hidden costs include room service delivery fees. At The Bellagio – famed for its lavish fountain display – having food served in your room costs $25 before you've even chosen what you want from the menu. The days when casinos gave out free steak, lobster and cocktails to keep their guests gambling are long gone. This is now a town where nothing comes for free. 'It is expensive. We paid $33 for a burger at the Excalibur hotel. And over $7 for a bottle of Gatorade,' admits 23-year-old Hugo, who has been visiting Vegas with three pals on a road trip around the West. 'It's a strange mix here of happiness and sadness, you see people having a good time, smiling, taking photos right next to homeless people or people losing money at a casino first thing in the morning.' Despite falling visitor numbers, resort casinos continue to post large profits. 'The economics may reflect that tourists are spending more,' Sam Novak concludes, 'but they may be enjoying themselves less, which ultimately is not a self-sustaining model.' While hotels are commanding larger fees and taking more on the casino floor, they're also providing fewer services. 'MGM laid off their entire concierge department, saying people prefer apps. I don't know if that's true. Maybe they do,' reveals local economics analyst Steven Campbell. 'There's no bell desk service at the Excalibur now. You have to bring your own luggage up to the rooms.' At the same time, resorts are increasingly offering self-service check-ins on an iPad, casinos are ditching traditional table games such as roulette and blackjack for digital equivalents at an electronic betting terminal and – in some extreme cases – even using robotic arms to serve food, such as at a cookie stall in Caesars's Palace or the Tipsy Robot bar off the Strip. 'I just think that people feel the value isn't there for the dollars and cents they pay,' says Campbell. 'It's now a dollar-first, experience-second city.' When it comes to musical acts, it's a similarly depressing story. Claudio and Ivan from Brazil love coming to Vegas for the residencies the city is famous for. Speaking to them beneath the famous 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' sign, they admitted spending more than $1,600 (£1,190) on tickets to see Lady Gaga and the Backstreet Boys this week. Similarly, R'n'B star Bruno Mars – playing at the Park MGM – is charging more than $500 a ticket, making him the most expensive artist in the world to see live. But when it comes to music, the price point is not the only pinch. Far from the heady days of Frank Sinatra and Liberace to Elvis Presley and Elton John, today the city's reputation has been shattered by a string of underwhelming performers on top of absurd ticket prices. 'I'm really concerned so many high-profile artists have created a negative experience for people when they come here,' continues Sam Novak, referencing Kelly Clarkson, who has just opened her show at the Colosseum inside Caesar's Palace. Clarkson cancelled two of her opening performances minutes before the curtain was set to rise, justifying herself to disappointed fans by claiming on social media: 'The prep and rehearsals have taken a toll on my voice.' When she did finally go on, many were still left disappointed. Far from the glitz and glamour of old-school Vegas, Clarkson's set resembles an 'intimate recording studio' with warm lighting, oak panels and pictures on the walls. Clarkson – who wears black jeans and a T-shirt for the gig – described the set as 'chic and comfortable'. So not exactly Liberace, then. 'You come to Vegas for bright lights, sequins and razzmatazz,' 58-year-old Colin from west London tells the Mail after the show. 'Instead, it felt like Kelly at the kitchen table.' In spite of everything, there is still hope for Vegas. The recently shuttered Mirage has been bought by Hard Rock, a hospitality brand, which is set to turn it into a '700ft guitar-shaped hotel'. Meanwhile, the opening of The Sphere – the remarkable performance venue coated entirely with LED screens – has made Vegas an entertainment trailblazer again, with a profile even those big-spending Saudis must envy. 'I went to the opening of Backstreet Boys show at The Sphere on Saturday night,' says Sam Novak. 'And it was an incredible experience. You realise when you're in there with 20,000 people that this is something you cannot get anywhere else.' But bright lights, showgirls, roulette wheels and top singers are disappearing. This is now a city with more billboards for injury lawyers than for anything else. A city where the casinos are sterile, dingy places crammed full of fixed-odds betting terminals. A city where the burlesque shows are half-empty and the musicians charge hundreds of dollars for a ticket. A city plagued by drugs and homelessness. A city seemingly caught in a death spiral. A city not so much sinking into the Nevada sand as melting into the tarmac.
BBC News
9 hours ago
- BBC News
The 'other' Michelin award travellers should know
Long overshadowed by the coveted Michelin stars, the Bib Gourmand celebrates the world's best budget-friendly restaurants. When the latest Michelin Guide to California was published in June, most headlines focused on its starred restaurants, including Hollywood's seafood-focused Providence. At the awards ceremony, it joined a rarified global club of eateries with three stars, Michelin's highest honour – one reserved for lofty cuisine and prices to match. Multi-course menus at Providence start at $325 (£240). Even their poached egg, that humble breakfast staple, comes with sea urchin and Champagne beurre blanc. (For an extra $40 (£30), you can zhuzh it up with golden Kaluga caviar, too.) Sublime as it may be, such fare bears little resemblance to my most memorable meals in Los Angeles. Like the spicy, aromatic toothpick lamb at Chengdu Taste, a no-frills Szechuan eatery in an Alhambra strip mall. Or the chile relleno burritos from East LA stalwart La Azteca Tortilleria, its house-made flour wrappers spilling piquant salsa across my lap. Even if they swapped their paper napkins for starched linen and played soft piano in the background – rumoured to be among the criteria for earning a coveted Michelin star – neither eatery is likely to obtain one. "Stars are oriented towards a certain kind of restaurant… often it's white tablecloths and tasting menus," said food writer and Eater editor Rebecca Roland, who grew up in LA and covered the most recent Michelin rollout. "The guide still considers a traditional fine dining experience very heavily." However, both Chengdu Taste and La Azteca Tortilleria appear on Michelin's lesser-known list: the Bib Gourmand, which recognises budget-friendly restaurants around the world. Unlike starred places, many LA "Bibs" are low-key local favourites; Roland mentioned hefty pastrami sandwiches at Langer's Delicatessen as one unmissable example. "I can't imagine someone coming to LA and not telling them to go to Langer's," she said. Such places help explain why Bib Gourmands have become a go-to resource for many foodie travellers. But curiously, even three decades after its launch, the Bib Gourmand can still feel like an open secret. "When you go to a Bib Gourmand, it's like you're wrapped in the people, the culture, the ingredients," said Ben Beale, a frequent traveller from Los Angeles who has sought out Bibs in cities like London and Hanoi. The Vietnamese capital has an impressive 22 Bibs, including renowned pho shop Phở Bò Lâm, which is famous for its beef heel muscle soups and where diners crouch on flimsy plastic stools. Beale used to plan his trips around Michelin-starred restaurants, making reservations weeks in advance. But he began to feel the high-end spots lacked the strong sense of place he found at Bibs. Instead, he started using the Michelin Guide app to search out more impromptu meals. "With Bib Gourmands it's more like, 'we're going to bounce up to London, let's just open the app when we're hungry and see what's about'," he said. Bib Gourmands versus Michelin stars The Bibs are relatively recent additions to the storied guidebook. The first Michelin Guide came out in 1900, a marketing ploy by the eponymous French tyre manufacturers hoping to inspire drivers to hit the road. In 1926, Michelin established "stars" for stand-out spots. It wasn't until 1997 that the guides introduced the modern Bib Gourmand symbol, a cartoon Michelin man licking his lips. (Bib is short for "Bibendum", the puffy mascot's official name.) "The Bib Gourmand award highlights restaurants that our inspectors consider to be the best value for money," explained the anonymous Chief Inspector for the Michelin Guide North America by email. Meals at Bibs generally include two courses and wine or dessert for under $50 (£37) and are more relaxed than starred meals. "There's no set formula for a Bib restaurant," the inspector added. "They are all unique." While the modern Bib Gourmand was launched in 1997, it lacks the stars' cultural status. "Not many people know the Bib Gourmand award… they see 'Michelin' and think it's a star," said Aylin Okutan Kurt, co-owner of Karaköy Lokantası, a Bib Gourmand restaurant in Istanbul's , waterfront Karaköy neighbourhood. Kurt sometimes has to explain the difference to tourists arriving at her restaurant. Among locals, Karaköy Lokantası is beloved for reverential renditions of traditional Turkish dishes, its kitchen wringing such depth of flavour from familiar recipes that it reminds diners why they attained "classic" status in the first place. At dinner, tables are crowded with small plates best accompanied by generous pours of the aniseed-scented spirit rakı. One Istanbul friend described it as "the kind of restaurant you visit if you live in Istanbul and really love living in Istanbul". On a spring visit last year, I joined the lunchtime crowd for plates of hünkar beğendi, meat-topped smoked aubergine that's pure Turkish comfort food. At the next table over, a trio of women shared fried mantı (meat-filled dumplings) doused in silky yoghurt. With its blue-tiled walls and well-heeled clientele, Karaköy Lokantası is undeniably elegant, but Kurt insists it isn't Michelin star material. The cooking is homier than what she called the "chef food" at Istanbul's starred restaurants. Those, like two-starred Turk Fatih Tutak, are more likely to feature deconstructed – rather than classic – versions of the recipes her own kitchen makes each day. Yet, traditional foods are one reason travellers seek out Bib Gourmands over Michelin stars in the first place. "When I'm going to a new country, I want to try authentic foods," said James Zhang, a traveller from Plano, Texas. "I'm not necessarily looking to try the most cutting-edge foods from chefs." Earlier this year, Zhang visited a series of Bib Gourmand restaurants in France with his family. At La Merenda in Nice, they savoured southern French classics including pistou pasta and stuffed and fried courgette blossoms. "It just really stood out to us," Zhang said. "There were a lot of locals there, and it felt like you really got to experience something unique." What Michelin stars miss Not all Bib Gourmand restaurants serve traditional regional cuisine. In fact, some argue they reflect the kind of culinary diversity that Michelin stars tend to miss. In a 2024 analysis, French data scientist Thomas Pernet found that French, Italian and Japanese cuisines are disproportionately represented among starred restaurants. He also noted that while Japanese food is widely celebrated, other non-Western cuisines can face bias and have historically been undervalued abroad. More like this:• How do restaurants actually get a Michelin star?• The ingenious story behind Michelin stars• A two-Michelin-star chef's guide to the best dining spots in Istanbul In Los Angeles County, home to more Asian American and Pacific Islanders than any other US county, just two non-Japanese Asian restaurants – Taiwanese-inspired Kato and Korean Restaurant Ki – have Michelin stars. Ki is a new addition. In the same area, the starred list includes two French and two Italian eateries. I thought of Pernet's research earlier this year when I covered the launch of the first Michelin Guide to Quebec. All three newly Michelin-starred restaurants in Montreal specialised in tasting menus of French cuisine. That raised eyebrows in a multicultural city that may be majority French-speaking but is certainly not French. (It was one of many online critiques, with one headline reading: "Michelin doesn't understand Montreal".) Yet the city's Bib Gourmand list was full of restaurants that felt more representative of the city's characteristic culinary style and diversity. There was the Syrian and Armenian cuisine of Le Petit Alep, where I've lingered over muhammara dip, its rich walnuts offset by the sharp tang of pomegranate molasses. Rotisserie chicken, a local staple that melds working-class Quebecois roots and foods brought by waves of Portuguese immigrants, was represented by Rôtisserie La Lune in the city's Little Italy. Would I eat at the city's three newly Michelin-starred dining rooms, with their French-inflected menus and impossible reservations? Sure; they're probably great. But as a traveller, I'm more inclined to seek out the affordable, diverse and vividly local thrills that Bibs offer. Perhaps I'll follow in the footsteps of fellow aficionado Beale. I'll wait until I'm hungry, look at the map and see if I can find a table at the closest Bib Gourmand. -- For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
Urgent warning as Northeast choked by smoke from wildfires
An urgent air quality warning is in place for New York and parts of New England as smoke from the Canadian wildfires continues to choke the US. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, parts of Eastern New York, and Southern Maine are under air quality alerts through Saturday. Areas like Boston, Providence, and Burlington will face 'unhealthy' levels, with the capital of Massachusetts reaching as high as 155, according to Fox Weather. 'Good' air quality is from zero to 50, while moderate is 51 to 100. Over 150 means some of the general public will experience health effects and sensitive members have a higher risk of serious reactions. Short-term health effects include irritation to the eyes, nose, and throat, and could cause sneezing, coughing, and shortness of breath. Residents in some areas are being urged to limit the amount of time they spend outdoors. The majority of the Northeast will fall in the moderate and unhealthy for sensitive people - including pregnant women and young children - but that doesn't mean residents won't see the side effects. New York City, which falls in the moderate category, has already begun to see hazy skies through the middle of the day on Saturday. Air quality is expected to be between 101 and 150 on Sunday in the Big Apple, NYC's Emergency Management advised. The smoke came in behind a cold front on Friday, according to Fox Weather. Northerly winds and high pressure trapped the smoke, leading to air quality issues across the region. The smoke will move toward the ocean as rain from the Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley move toward the area late Saturday. The haze should fully clear out by Sunday, according to Fox Weather. However, it might not leave for long as it could return early next week. There are currently 550 wildfires burning in Canada, scorching 15million acres. The blazes have left Montreal with the worst air quality in the world on Saturday morning, according to Town and Country Today. By the afternoon, it dropped to second place, behind Kinshasa, Congo. Environment Canada has urged Canadians in Montreal to reschedule outdoor events and to stay indoors. 'During heavy smoke conditions, everyone's health is at risk regardless of their age or health status,' the agency said. Quebec is also expected to return to normal air quality levels by Sunday.
