2 simultaneous hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico have not happened, NOAA says

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Saturday, August 22, 2020
Tropical disturbances could make Gulf weather history next week
There have been some close calls, but Laura and soon-to-be Marco are about to make history.

Marco and Laura may be the intended names of a pair of tropical disturbances, and now they're part of weather history.

"Official records go back to 1851. Based on the WPC (Weather Prediction Center) analysis, there is no record of two hurricanes at the exact same time in the Gulf of Mexico," a NOAA staffer tells ABC News.

Here is the latest tracking information on both storms.

While soon-to-be Marco and Laura are expected to blaze a tropical trail into the Gulf, there have been a few close calls according to records.

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In 1959, Tropical Storm Beulah moved near the coast of Mexico while an unnamed storm drifted from west to east into the Florida peninsula.

A major hurricane in 1933 made landfall in south Texas as a tropical storm briefly crossed over the Gulf near Cedar Key, Florida, after making an earlier landfall on the Atlantic coast as a hurricane.

In 1974, a tropical depression churned the waters of the Bay of Campeche as a subtropical storm moved east into the Florida peninsula.

And then there are the near misses. In 2004, Tropical Storm Bonnie made landfall in the Florida panhandle about 16 hours before Hurricane Charley emerged into the Gulf after passing over Cuba.

In 1971, Fern made landfall as a tropical storm in Texas about 24 hours before Edith emerged in the Bay of Campeche as a tropical storm after crossing the Yucatan Peninsula.

SEE ALSO: Tropical Storm Laura forms in the Atlantic as Tropical Depression 14 continues to aim at SE Texas