Tropical Storm Delta expected to form, approach Louisiana as a hurricane
Aweather system located south of Jamaica on Sunday evening is expected to strengthen into Tropical Storm Delta during the day Monday and could approach the coast of Louisiana as a hurricane by the end of the week, the National Hurricane Center said.
The system could eventually interact with Tropical Storm Gamma, which was just north of Cancun, Mexico, Sunday. Both systems will be within 500 miles of each other late today into Tuesday, the hurricane center’s forecast tracks show.
By mid-week, Hurricane Delta could be circulating off the northwest coast of Cuba. Tropical storm warnings were posted for the Cayman Islands with hurricane watches for parts of western Cuba. Forecasters warned of potentially lifethreatening flooding and mudslides in the region, including in Jamaica.
Delta would be the 25th named storm of the 2020 hurricane season, three systems short of tying the record for the busiest hurricane season in recorded history. On Dec. 30, 2005, Tropical Storm Zeta formed as the 28th named storm of the year, setting the all-time record.
“It is possible that we could see a Fujiwhara effect between Gamma and this new tropical feature. The Fujiwhara effect is when two tropical systems moving in such close proximity of each other that they begin to swirl around their common center. This can force either tropical system to temporarily change course,” AccuWeather said Sunday.
Tropical Storm Gamma came ashore Saturday on the northeastern Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, with 65 mph winds.
The National Hurricane Center said the downpour there could “produce lifethreatening flash floods.”
And “significant rain” is possible in several Mexican states, with rainfall of 6-8 inches and even as much as 12 inches, according to the National Hurricane Center, particularly in the mountainous regions of southeastern Mexico and Central America.
It still left forecasters wondering whether Gamma could regain strength over the warm Gulf of Mexico.
“The intensity forecast seems tricky,” forecasters said late Saturday. “The tropical storm still appears well organized despite its time over land and since it will be moving back over water soon, it could restrengthen.”
By 8p.m. Sunday, Gamma was about 185 miles northeast of Pregreso, on the northwest side of the peninsula, moving north at 3 mph with 60mph winds, according to an advisory from the hurricane center.
For Gamma, the government of Mexico issued a tropical storm warning for the north and west of Cancun to Dzilam.
Two other tropical waves are also being monitored in the Atlantic— one near Bermuda and the other in the central tropical Atlantic. Both have a low chance of development, forecasters said Sunday. After Delta, the next storms would be named Epsilon, Zeta and Eta.
This has been a busy hurricane season with nine named storms making landfall in the continental U.S., which ties the record number established in 1916. Beta became the first storm named after a letter of the Greek alphabet to make landfall in the continental U.S. when it hit Texas on Sept. 21.
Because 2020 is a La Niña year, forecasters expect late-season storm activity to increase in October and possibly even carry into November. Hurricane season officially ends Nov. 30.