Hurricane center tracks 2 systems in Atlantic with chance to develop
ORLANDO, Fla. — The National Hurricane Center is now tracking two Atlantic systems with a chance to develop into the season’s next tropical depression or storm.
As of the NHC’s 8 a.m. tropical outlook Wednesday, the bigger threat to Florida remained what is expected to become an area of low pressure that could form in the central tropical Atlantic in a few days.
“Thereafter, environmental conditions appear generally favorable for some slow development of the system this weekend into early next week while it moves westward to west-northwestward at 10 to 15 mph,” forecasters said.
Its long-term forecast has the weather system potentially passing over the Caribbean’s Leeward Islands.
The NHC also began tracking an area of low pressure in the western Atlantic early Wednesday located a few hundred miles southeast of Bermuda that was producing a small area of disorganized shower and thunderstorm activity.
“Dry air and strong upper-level winds are expected to limit additional development of this system during the next day or so while the low moves northward to north-northeastward at around 10 mph,” forecasters said.
The NHC gives it just a 10% chance to develop in the next two to seven days.
If either system develops into a named storm, it could become Tropical Storm Francine.
The tropics had been quiet for a couple of weeks since Hurricane Ernesto carved a path over the Caribbean and up over Bermuda earlier in August.
While the official hurricane season runs from June 1-Nov. 30, the height of hurricane season runs from mid-August into October. So far the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season has produced five named storms, three of which formed into hurricanes, and one of which became a major hurricane.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s upgraded forecast issued earlier this month calls for 17-24 named storms, of which 8-13 could become hurricanes, with 4-7 that could develop into major hurricanes of Category 3 strength or higher.