Gonzalo continues to dissipate as its remnants move through the Caribbean
Gonzalo is on its last leg as it has been downgraded from a tropical storm to depression and then dissipated Saturday evening. The system continues to move through the Caribbean as it sees its final days.
In its last advisory for Gonzalo, the National Hurricane Center says the remnants of Gonzalo are forecast to move generally west across the southern Caribbean for the next few days.
The system is about 125 miles west-northwest of Trinidad, forecasters say. Its maximum sustained winds lowered to 35 mph from 40, with some higher gusts.
Gonzalo was forecast to become a hurricane Saturday afternoon, but Gonzalo never reached hurricane conditions. At most, it formed into a tropical storm.
The center of the storm is forecast to move in a general westward to west-northwest direction over the southern Windward islands Saturday and into the eastern Caribbean Sea by late Sunday or early Monday, according to the hurricane center. It is then expected to weaken and eventually dissipate by the middle of next week as it travels through the Caribbean Sea, well south of Puerto Rico.
Watches/Warnings
▪ There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.
Gonzalo is expected to produce between 1 to 2 inches of rain in far northeastern Venezuela through Saturday evening, with isolated areas possibly seeing up to 4 inches of rain. This may lead to flash floods, according to the hurricane center.
Gonzalo was the earliest seventh named storm to form in recorded history, edging out Gert in 2005. It’s also the fourth storm in the 2020 season to break such a record.
Forecasters are also watching Hurricane Hanna, which graduated to that status Saturday morning after forming in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday night. Hanna is forecast to make landfall along the coast of Texas on Saturday.
Another system to watch: A tropical wave near the west of Africa that is expected to move westward across the Atlantic during the next several days. Forecasters say the wave might see some development early next week when it reaches the western tropical Atlantic. Its formation chances in the next five days is 60 percent, according to the hurricane center.
NOAA has predicted this will be an active hurricane season, with 13 to 19 named storms.
Miami Herald staff writer Alex Harris contributed to this report.
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 9:17 AM.
