The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is an environmental catastrophe with still-unforeseen consequences; its growing slick is like a cancer to the ecosystem and reports imply the spill could be much larger than recent U.S. estimates.

So what happens if the situation hasn't been brought under control when the first hurricanes begin tearing paths across the gulf? Hurricane season begins June 1 and scientists are predicting an above-average season, meaning more hurricanes than normal being spawned in the Atlantic.

To underscore the potential for these large storms widening the scope of the spill disaster, the eco-tourism group Shark Divers has posted a blog report entitled "Oil Spill in the Gulf - 2010 Hurricane Oilmaggedon?"

It's accompanied by a graphic put together by RTSea Productions (pictured at right) revealing Hurricane Katrina's position, as a Category 3 storm in 2005, directly over the present spill area.

The point is to suggest that if a storm with 127-mph winds follows the same path as Katrina it would "plow right through the oil disaster area and BP's runaway wellhead off the gulf coast."

It also would suck oil in the form of tiny droplets from the surface and rain them down on rivers, lakes, farmland and even in cities.

Of course, this is a worst-case scenario and that might require early development of hurricanes--there are no storms brewing yet--but such a scenario is not implausible. In fact, states meteorologist Jim Rouiller in a Bloomberg News story: A strong hurricane sweeping across the Gulf with the slick still present would result in "an unthinkable bio-environmental catastrophe."

To be sure, where the environment is concerned, those trying to control the spill and get a more permanent handle on the situation really are working against the clock.