Corn Crop Clobbered by Hurricane Michael

Note that until Hurricane Michael, corn had been trending lower for the last few days, but when the hurricane hit, prices leaped! This is one of the worst hurricanes to hit the United States in decades.

And Hurricane Ike Comes Into the Picture, Too!

And now Hurricane Ike prepares to follow Hurricane Hanna toward the Atlantic coast of the United States. Ike has already become a category 2 hurricane stronger than Hanna, even while still far out in the Atlantic. Fortunately, neither Hanna nor Ike show any signs of endangering oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The Atlantic seaboard may not be so fortunate, however. Will the East Coast be able to evacuate and prepare as effectively as the Gulf Coast states did? I hope so! Click on the graphic to see the latest storm path at accuweather.com.

And Here Comes Hurricane Hanna!

As if Hurricane Gustav wasn't bad enough, the National Weather Service has just upgraded Tropical Storm Hanna to a hurricane. The good news is that Hanna doesn't appear to be a threat to the same people and facilities in the Gulf region. The bad news is that Hanna seems intent on targeting the eastern seaboard of the United States. Click on the picture to see the latest update on the hurricane from accuweather.com.

Edouard Pushes Crude Prices Higher

Tropical Storm Edouard is the first storm of this year's hurricane season to seriously threaten oil platforms in the coastal Gulf region of the United States. Fortunately, Edouard is still just a tropical storm, but its proximity to the region and potential to strengthen into a hurricane is putting a floor under crude oil prices for the time being. With the storm already so close to making landfall, it's hard for me to imagine a scenario that could create much risk. Crude oil tonight is trading approximately $1 higher than Friday's closing prices. Click on the image to see the most current map of the storm on the accuweather.com website.

Dolly to Deliver Hurricane Hell?

Tropical storm Dolly, which is now strengthening in the Gulf of Mexico, is now all but certain to deliver a wallop to oil production facilities. This is one of the reasons why the price of oil has risen today. Note the price spike in oil in the past hour on the above chart. The price spike on the charts is largely due to the rapid strengthening of Dolly, adding to the disappointment of no agreement over the weekend between Eurozone negotiators and Iranian leadership. The chart at right shows Dolly's eye path and potential strength when it makes landfall over the next few days. This was bound to happen eventually! Click on the hurricane eye path image to go to the Accuweather web page for the lastest information on Dolly.