Storm updates
Tropical Storm Rene builds strength as Paulette maintains westward journey.
The National Hurricane Center said Wednesday night it is monitoring a system of disorganized showers and thunderstorms that could impact Florida later this week. Meanwhile, the hurricane center is keeping tabs on five other systems, including Tropical Storm Rene and Tropical Storm Paulette.
The NHC identified the new disturbance, located a couple hundred miles northeast of the Central Bahamas, in its Wednesday evening update. While there’s just a 20 percent chance it could develop into a depression or storm in the next five days, the system could be near Florida on Friday, forecasters said.
Back out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Tropical Storm Rene will be moving through an environment with moderate, vertical wind shear through the week. Gradual strengthening is forecast for the next two days, and Rene should become a hurricane briefly on Friday, the 6th hurricane of the busy 2020 season.
After that, increasing western wind shear should diminish its strength once again. As of the 5 p.m. update, Rene is 590 miles westnorthwest of the Cabo Verde Islands and is moving at 13 mph. Rene’s maximum sustained winds are back up to 40 mph. Models predict Rene to continue moving west, but to take a turn toward the northern Atlantic.
Next up, Tropical Storm Paulette is facing wind shear but is continuing to jog westnorthwest at 10 mph. The shear is forecast to increase and should cause Paulette’s maximum winds to decrease in the next three days. As of 5 p.m. Paulette has maximum sustained winds of 60 mph and its center was last located about 1,035 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands.
Paulette’s tropical-stormforce winds extend outward up to 240 miles from its center
Paulette is now large enough to generate swells capable of reaching the Leeward Islands Thursday night and Friday with swells spreading westward to the Greater Antilles. Bahamas and Bermuda over the weekend.
The NHC is also monitoring three other systems with odds of developing into the next tropical depression or tropical storm.
The first is an area of low pressure located 240 miles southeast of Wilmington, N.C., the NHC said in its 8 p.m. update. The system has become less organized since Tuesday, but is expected to move over eastern North Carolina on Thursday afternoon. It has a 20 percent chance of development in the next five days.
The second system of interest is a tropical wave which is forecast to emerge off the west coast of Africa Thursday. A tropical depression is likely to form as it heads over water late this week or this weekend. The wave has a 50% chance of developing over the next two days, and an 90% chance of doing so over the next five.
Forecasters on Wednesday night identified another tropical wave expected to emerge off the coast of Africa this weekend. It has a 20 percent chance of development in the next five days.
Whichever system develops first will either be designated as Tropical Depression 19 or Tropical Storm Sally depending on how far along it may be in its development.
The remaining names for the 2020 season after the letter “S” are Teddy, Vicky and Wilfred.
If the total amount of 2020 storms exceeds the designated name list — which it is expected to —hurricane specialists will begin using letters from the Greek alphabet to name storm; a tactic meteorologists have only had to use once before in 2005, which had a total of 28 named storms. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast the 2020 season to have an estimated total of 19 to 25 named storms - the highest estimated forecast its ever made.