Storm likely to swell into another hurricane

Tropical Depression 16 forms in the Caribbean

The ferocious 2017 hurricane season shows no signs of letting up

newly formed tropical depression spinning in the Caribbean Sea was forecast to move north into the Gulf of Mexico and strengthen into a hurricane by the weekend, the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday.

As of 8 p.m. ET, the center of Tropical Depression 16 was about 170 miles south-southeast of the Nicaragua/Honduras border. It had winds of 35 mph and moved to the northwest at 7 mph. A depression becomes a named storm when its winds reach 39 mph. The system would be called Nate.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect along the coasts of Nicaragua and Honduras.

“Beneficial rain may extend across the interior eastern U.S. next week, which could ease abnormally dry and building drought conditions.” AccuWeather meteorologist Brett Rathbun

Over the next couple of days, “rainfall amounts of 15 to 20 inches are expected across portions of Nicaragua, with isolated maximum amounts of 30 inches possible,” the hurricane center said, which could lead to lifethreatening flash floods and mudslides. Torrential rain was forecast to soak portions of Panama, Costa Rica and Honduras.

As the storm moves north, if it slides to the east or southeast of the Yucatan Peninsula, where waters are warmest, “we could quickly have a powerful hurricane on our hands,” AccuWeather’s Dan Kottlowski said.

Gulf Coast areas from Florida to Alabama, Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana could be at risk for damaging winds, coastal flooding, rough surf and beach erosion this weekend into early next week, AccuWeather said. But there is good news. “Beneficial rain may extend across the interior eastern U.S. next week, which could ease abnormally dry and building drought conditions in some locations,” according to AccuWeather meteorologist Brett Rathbun.

There have been 13 named tropical storms in the Atlantic Basin in 2017, of which eight were hurricanes.