Tropical Storm Sean forms in Atlantic; Gulf system could mean wet Wednesday

Robin Webb, Bill Kearney, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
·2 min read

Tropical Storm Sean formed Wednesday from a system off Africa that’s headed generally west toward the central Atlantic, and there’s another system not far behind. Meanwhile, a non-tropical system in the Gulf of Mexico is due to bring wet weather locally.

Rainy weather is forecast for South Florida on Wednesday as a low-pressure system merges with a front in the Gulf of Mexico.

As of 5 a.m. Wednesday, Sean was located roughly 725 miles west-southwest of Africa’s Cabo Verde Islands in the far eastern Atlantic. It was moving west-northwest at 13 mph with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph, just 1 mph over the minimum threshold for a tropical storm.

The National Hurricane Center has forecast little change in strength for the next few days. Sean’s tropical-storm-force winds extended out up to 90 miles.

Also Wednesday, a new tropical wave that just emerged off Africa has been given a 10-20% chance of developing.

Meanwhile, the non-tropical Gulf system may well soak South Florida. It’s expected to merge with a frontal system over the western Gulf by early Wednesday, and the combination could bring heavy rains to the region.

The National Weather Service said that though the heaviest rains will occur north of South Florida, Wednesday afternoon could bring enough rain to the Broward and Palm Beach County area to cause localized flooding, particularly in urban sections.

Various forecast models used by the South Florida Water Management District show the system veering east toward New Orleans or Florida’s Panhandle.

So far this season in the Atlantic, there have been 18 named storms, six of which were hurricanes. Of those, three were major hurricanes, meaning Category 3 or above.

Those were Hurricane Lee, a rare Category 5; Hurricane Franklin, a Category 4; and Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall on Florida’s Big Bend region at Category 3 strength on Aug. 30.

The next named storm will be Tammy.

Hurricane season officially runs through Nov. 30.