TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The National Hurricane Center is monitoring a disturbance that could form over the Western Caribbean over the next week.
The area of low pressure has a 40% chance of development, resembling a path similar to Hurricane Helene.
“There are two other areas we are watching,” Max Defender 8 Meteorologist Eric Stone said. “One wave is expected to develop into an area of low pressure in the south-central Caribbean. This has a 40% chance of development the next seven days, but models strengthen this slowly over the western Gulf of Mexico. It appears as though this will stay well to the west of the Bay Area, but of course, we will continue to monitor this system.”
As the system moves northwestward over the Gulf of Mexico, it is likely to form into a tropical depression by the middle of the week.
In the Eastern and Central Tropical Atlantic, another area of low pressure has the potential to form by next week as it continues moving west at roughly 10 mph. This system has a 50% chance of development over the next seven days.
“It appears as though it will move to the northwest sooner than later and follow Joyce’s path and stay well away from the United States,” Eric Stone added.
Hurricane Isaac, located in the far northern Atlantic, and Tropical Storm Joyce, moving northwest in the eastern Atlantic will both weaken and remain in the open Atlantic, with no effect on the U.S.
In a 5 a.m. update on Saturday, Helene remains a post-tropical cyclone as it moves over the Southern Appalachians. Residents in that area can expect “historic” flooding as heavy rainfall continues.
