Hurricane Harvey is barreling down on Texas, and commodity traders are looking to figure out how to protect themselves and profit.
The man these traders and hedge-fund managers turn to has become known as Wall Street's weatherman: Dan Leonard of Weather.com. He advises commodity traders from all over the country and warns Harvey is intensifying and speeding up. Leonard's updated prediction this morning calls for record-breaking flooding to occur in the southern third of Texas.
"Historic flooding from Houston to San Antonio is very possible," the forecaster told CNBC.
Harvey will become a Category 2 hurricane late today, according to Leonard, that's faster and stronger than many meteorologists had been forecasting.
Harvey was upgraded from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane by the U.S. National Hurricane Center at 1:02 pm ET.
Weather.com provided us with this satellite link showing the formation of the storm as of 10:30 a.m. ET.
He said, however, the impact on the massive Gulf Coast energy complex will be muted, calling Harvey "a double-edged sword."
"The [hurricane] will curtail energy production and refining operations in the area, but demand for gas will diminish because the area will be cooler than normal due to the rain and cloud cover," Leonard said.
The forecaster sees the storm stalling out over south Texas, drenching the state for four or five days.
Leonard also says "there's a good chance the storm will turn towards Louisiana and re-intensify, giving the Gulf Coast a second hit."
Leonard is calling for Harvey to make landfall near Corpus Christi late Friday. He said he expects widespread power outages and for wind turbines, which are heavily concentrated in the Corpus Christi area, to take a hit.