Hurricane forecasters are watching 2 potential storms. One may bring rain to Florida
Besides Tropical Storm Gabrielle, the National Hurricane Center is watching two more potential tropical storms brewing in the Atlantic — and at least one of them may be heading near Florida.
And by the end of the week, the one closer to South Florida could bring rain to Miami-Dade and Broward, according to the National Weather Service.
Update: There’s now a third tropical wave in the Atlantic. How will this affect Florida’s weather?
The disturbance that is nearest to South Florida is a few hundred miles north and northeast of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean and is producing “disorganized showers and thunderstorms,” according to the hurricane center’s 8 p.m. advisory.
While it has a zero percent chance of developing into a significant weather system in the next two days, the hurricane center says there is a 20 percent chance of development later this week. That’s when “environmental conditions could become a little more conducive” when the weather system moves near Florida and the Bahamas. The Bahamas’ northern islands were recently left devastated by Hurricane Dorian.
South Florida’s weather may be affected by the end of the week by that system; “high pressure” and easterly winds mean an increase in moisture, said Larry Kelly, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami. Every day the chance of rain goes up by 10 percent.
“The rain changes gradually go up as we get to the weekend,” he said.
Forecasters are also watching a tropical wave that is midway between the Cabo Verde Islands and the Windward Islands, the southern islands of the Caribbean that include Martinique and St. Lucia, among others. The wave is expected to move westward across the Atlantic Ocean for the next several days, but its development chances for the next five days have weakened overnight from 40 to 30 percent.
As for Gabrielle, that storm is not expected to be a threat to South Florida. It’s about 1,000 miles west of the Azores in the North Atlantic and is moving north-northeast at a fast clip of 21 mph with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, as of Monday’s 5 p.m. forecast.
Hurricane season ends Nov. 30.
This story was originally published September 9, 2019 at 9:20 AM.
