Oil Spill Area Has Grown to 15 Times the Size of Manhattan
Satellite imagery over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Monday, April 25. Photo courtesy of NASA.
Oil is still leaking from the sunken rig in the Gulf of Mexico, extending the spill as upcoming winds threaten to bring oil to the beaches along four states by this weekend.
While sunshine and calm seas will aid in cleanup efforts of the Deepwater Horizon rig through Wednesday, thunderstorms, increasing winds and building seas are forecast to spread from west to east late Thursday and Friday.
AccuWeather.com meteorologists foresee winds beginning to pull up out of the south Thursday into Friday as the storm system currently plaguing the Pacific Northwest moves across the nation's midsection.
Oil will be pulled toward the coasts of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, possibly reaching the beaches early this weekend.
Winds beginning late Thursday will gust up to 25 mph, yielding wave heights of 3 to 9 feet, and will continue through early next week. The Gulf is sure to be choppy through this time period.
The Associated Press reports that cleanup efforts were first interrupted by poor weather this past weekend. Rain, thunderstorms and rough seas hit the region.
Oil is spilling from the Deepwater Horizon rig, which sunk about 50 miles off the coast of Venice, La.
There could be as much as 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel on board the sunken rig. Experts studying the spill estimate that 42,000 gallons of crude oil are leaking each day.
A new oil leak was just discovered on Saturday. The Coast Guard told CNN the thin layer of oil spans an area as wide as 42 miles by 80 miles, which is the roughly 15 times the size of Manhattan.
As of Sunday morning, the New York Times reports that 48,000 gallons of oil-water mix had been collected. Around 30 vessels have been deployed to help clean the oil slick.
The Deepwater Horizon rig caught on fire on Tuesday after an explosion, then sunk on Thursday.
Eleven workers on the rig remain missing and are presumed dead. Another 115 workers escaped, but several sustained injury.
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Daily U.S. Extremes
past 24 hours
| Extreme | Location | |
|---|---|---|
| High | 86° | Borrego Springs, CA |
| Low | -18° | Flag Island, MN |
| Precip | 1.60" | West Palm Beach, FL |
WeatherWhys®
The "Dead of Winter," the one-month period when normal temperatures reach their lowest levels, has come to an end for much of the United States. Some people may find it odd that the "Dead of Winter" does not encompass the darkest day of the year (the first day of winter). That is due to a seasonal lag in temperatures. More heat continues to be lost than is gained from the start of winter until this time of year.
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