Three tropical disturbances forming in Atlantic, 2 headed for Gulf of Mexico
Three tropical disturbances, each with a 20% chance of turning into a hurricane, have formed in the Atlantic Ocean and at least two of them are making a beeline for the Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said Monday.
Regardless of whether they turn into substantial storms, at least one of them is promising voluminous amounts of rain, meteorologists said.
One of those tracking toward the Gulf of Mexico “is being monitored for possible development into a tropical depression, but it will enhance rainfall along parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast regardless if that happens,” The Weather Channel reported Monday.
The farthest east disturbance, at this point a “tropical wave,” was over Cuba and the Bahamas late Monday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center said in a dispatch. That was scheduled to bring “disorganized showers and thunderstorms over Cuba, the central and northwestern Bahamas, and the adjacent Atlantic waters” in a system slated to move west-northwest between Florida and Cuba and spend the next few days crossing the Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said, after which “environmental conditions could become a little more conducive for development of this system.”
A storm reconnaissance aircraft was scheduled to investigate the system Tuesday.
Two other systems included “shower activity” linked to another tropical wave, this one about 1,000 miles west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands, but it was pretty much stagnant, the National Hurricane Center said.
“Environmental conditions are expected to be marginally conducive for development of this system during the next few days while it moves westward at 10 to 15 mph over the tropical Atlantic,” the National Hurricane Center said, adding that conditions would be less favorable for tropical cyclone formation by Friday and over the weekend.
The third and westernmost weather system was a weak, low-pressure area in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, though the system was expected to drift inland over Texas and make for “locally heavy rainfall is possible over portions of southeastern Texas and southern Louisiana during the next day or two,” the hurricane center said.
If any of the three manages to become a tropical storm, it would become Gonzalo, the season’s next available name, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported. The name after that would be Hanna.
The potential extreme weather should be a wake-up call for what the hurricane season can bring, The Weather Channel noted.
“For now, this potential for tropical development is nothing to be overly concerned about,” The Weather Channel said. “But it should be a reminder that the typical peak of hurricane season is just around the corner and you should have a preparedness plan in place.”
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