How To Track Hurricane Katia As It Grows In Strength

Over the past several weeks, in addition to matters of huge political importance, the national consciousness has been seized by a series of large, threatening climate events. First, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in the greater Houston area, causing unprecedented flooding and killing at least 50 people. Then, Hurricane Irma reared its head, and is now threatening to hit the state of Florida. And following on the heels of Irma, there's another storm in the pipeline: here's how to track Hurricane Katia.

Katia isn't the only storm brewing ― it's joined by Hurricane Jose, which is gathering in the Atlantic. Katia, however, formed in the Gulf of Mexico, and may in fact hit Mexico in the coming days. According to The Weather Channel, it's not moving much as of yet, but it's eventually expected to veer southeast towards the Mexican coast.

If you're looking for the best way to follow Katia's movements in the Gulf of Mexico, you won't find much better than the National Hurricane Center. A division of the National Weather Service, the government agency tasked with monitoring and reporting on weather and climate events, the NHC has been one of the most reliable and oft-updated outlets for information about the movements of all the recent tropical storms and hurricanes. You can follow its Twitter account for Atlantic storms here.

According to The Weather Channel, an Air Force plane will be conducting a reconnaissance flight out to observe Katia at some point on Wednesday, after which the threat it poses should become more clear.

While Katia is widely expected to hit the east coast of Mexico, it's currently idling about 100 miles off the coast, and is not projected to move north. This is good news for residents of Texas, many of whom have already lived through the floods and downpour brought by Harvey, which dumped more than 50 inches of rain in some areas.

That said, given the immense amount of attention being directed towards major storm events right now, and the fact that residents of the Mexican coast are under threat ― Mexico, for the record, offered and sent aid to the victims of the Houston floods ― it's definitely worth paying attention to. While projections for tropical storms and hurricanes can change as time goes by, the coastal city of Veracruz, Mexico appears to be particularly under threat, sitting more or less directly in the path of where The Weather Channel predicts Katia will eventually make landfall.