Hurricane forecasters watching 2 tropical waves this week
Meteorologists are watching two disturbances on Thursday — one brewing near the Windward Islands, the other expected to move off the west coast of Africa later this week. However, both systems have a low chance of strengthening into a tropical depression, according to the National Hurricane Center.
An 2 a.m. update from the center said the system off the Windward Islands has a 20% chance of strengthening in the next five days as conditions could become more favorable for slower development as the wave moves across the Caribbean Sea.
Meteorologists are also monitoring another wave that may move off the west coast of Africa in the next 48 hours. The storm is moving at about 10 to 15 mph, and has a 10% chance of developing in the next two days and a 20% chance of developing late this week or over the weekend.
There have been just three named storms this season, the last of which was in early July. Though this season has had a slower start, most tropical activity occurs in late August and September.
Philip Klotzbach, a meteorologist from Colorado State University, tweeted the slower season could be attributed to a mid-oceanic trough over the Central Atlantic that has brought drier air and wind shear that has stymied development.
Mississippi State professor Kim Wood tweeted this hurricane season is off to the slowest pace in the last 30 years, according to one metric. However, that same year, in 1992, Hurricane Andrew made landfall in South Florida as a category 5 hurricane. The storm was one of the most destructive in the state’s history.
Wednesday marked the 30-year anniversary of the storm’s landfall. Twenty-six deaths were directly attributed to Andrew: 15 in Florida, eight in Louisiana and three in the Bahamas.
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