Watch The Gulf

What could be HURRICANE IDA is spinning up in the western Caribbean. Once it crosses and gets by the Yucatan Peninsula, it will be in the very warm waters of the southern Gulf of Mexico and that means it will get way stronger than the current tropical depression status. Expect them to start evacuating oil rigs this weekend out on the Gulf and refineries will shutdown soon afterwards. This will affect everyone nationwide as have the ongoing spot gasoline shortages caused by increased traveling and a shortage  of drivers for fuel trucks. While some of the tracks take it into the coast near New Orleans, other models indicate the Golden Triangle--basically where Texas and Louisiana meet---and home to much of the nation's oil refineries and petro chemical plants. 

So, even if you are nowhere near the coast, keep your gas tank full and stock up on grocery items as what happens on the coast will have a worse ripple effect than normal because of the ongoing supply issues in a variety of industries. If it hits, there are going to be a lot of delays in shipping goods and fuel as a ton of stuff goes through that region. Expect gas prices to steadily increase on a daily basis for the next couple of weeks, at a bare minimum. This will be on top of the normal increase we see each year in the days running up to Labor Day.