Will last week’s tropical depression redevelop?
Another week in the summer, another week of potential storm development in the Atlantic.
First, forecasters at the NationalHurricane Center are watching a cluster of clouds and storms in the far eastern Atlantic that has a slight chance of becoming a tropical cyclone. Itwas no threat to Florida.
Second, and perhaps more interesting, the remains of last week’s tropical depression were still churning and could be headed to South Florida by Thursday and Friday.
The NationalHurricane Center hadn’t given the former depression a chance of redeveloping as of Monday afternoon, but they had designated it an Invest, which basically means it warrants further investigation.
“We do have an aircraft scheduled to investigate; we’ll see if it’s necessary tomorrow morning,” said Senior Hurricane Specialist Richard Pasch.
“Right now we’re calling for significant
Otherweatherwatchers were saying the redevelopment of the former depression was a possibility, even if a small one. The popular Hurricane Tracker phone app gave it a 30 percent chance over the next five days.
Satellite imagery shows the former Tropical Depression Four — now knownas Invest04L— as a giant blob of stormy weather and clouds just north of the eastern Caribbean and heading west toward the Bahamas and Florida. (With this Invest, the ‘04’ refers to its former not redevelopment.” status as Tropical Depression Four, while the ‘L’ refers to theAtlantic hurricane zone.)
Some of the so-called spaghetti models, which show a weather system’s potential path, depict the remnants of the depression as headed to South Florida.
The National Weather ServiceMiami-South Florida office said it’s likely to bring heavy thunderstorms to South Florida beginning Thursday.
Meanwhile, forecasters say an area of disorganized rain showers a few hundred miles south of the Cabo Verde Islands has a 20 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone over the next five days.
The potential system is depicted in a National Hurricane Center graphic as having the potential to become a tropical cyclone in the Central Atlantic before continuing west toward an area of the southeastern Caribbean that stretches roughly from the northern coast of Venezuela to the Barbados and also includes St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, andTrinidad and Tobago.
“It’s probably five days away from the Lesser Antilles,” Pasch said, referring to the islands that form the eastern perimeter of the Caribbean.
“Right now we’re giving it a lowchance.”
Atropical cyclone refers to an organized system of clouds and thunderstorms that rotates — counterclockwise in theAtlantic— and has strong winds and a closed circulation, meaning it will have an eye. Tropical cyclones can take the form of a tropical depression, tropical storm, or hurricane.
The next named will be called Don.
Since April the Atlantic basin, which includes the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, has seen three tropical storms: Arlene, Bret and Cindy.
Bret passed over southern Trinidad and northern Venezuela, bringing heavy rains and flooding.
Cindy is the only tropical system to make U.S. landfall so far in 2017, coming ashore at the TexasLouisiana border. It was blamed for at least one fatality, a 10-year-old boy who died after he was struck by debris along the Alabama coast. storm