An Atlantic system is likely to grow stronger. Could it become Tropical Storm Chantal?
A tropical wave slowly and steadily brewing into a tropical depression far out in the Atlantic Ocean is expected to continue to do just that for the next few days, according to the National Hurricane Center’s 8 p.m. advisory.
For more than 24 hours, it has been at a 70% chance of forming into a tropical cyclone, the weakest weather classification in the run up to a hurricane.
Forecasters are predicting it will reach cyclone level within the next few days when the stormy system is still hundreds of miles east of the Lesser Antilles. After that conditions are expected to deteriorate.
The Lesser Antilles is the arc of islands that mark the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea. It includes the Virgin Islands, Saint Kitts, Antigua, Montserrat and Guadeloupe.
When a tropical weather system develops into a cyclone it is called a tropical depression. Those are followed by tropical storms and then hurricanes.
If this current wave continues onward and upward beyond tropical depression strength, it would become the third named storm of the 2019 hurricane season — Chantal.
What will keep South Florida wet into the weekend is another area of disturbed weather closer to the Bahamas and spreading over the southern part of the state.
It has zero chance of developing into anything more than wet, stormy weather, according to Forecasters on Monday night.
The 8 p.m. weather advisory had this system merging with a front and accelerating northeasterly, and by Sunday off the Southeastern U.S. coast.
Higher than normal tides are also expected into the weekend, sparking warnings of the potential for flooding.
Hurricane season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30.