Tropical storms just keep coming

Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands issued warnings

The hyperactive 2020 Atlantic hurricane season shows no signs of slowing down.

A weather system swirling in the central Atlantic will likely become the season’s next tropical storm, forecasters said Tuesday, with the National Hurricane Center giving the system a 90% chance of development within the next two days.

Tropical storm warnings have been hoisted in both Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for the system, which the hurricane center has dubbed “Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine.” This means tropical storm conditions are likely there within the next 36 hours.

On the forecast track, the system is expected to move through the Leeward Islands on Wednesday, near the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Wednesday night and near or over Hispaniola on Thursday, the hurricane center said.

The storm could dump as much as 10 inches of rain across the northern Leeward

Islands, the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. “This rainfall may produce life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides,” the hurricane center warned.

Tropical storm warnings were also in place for several other Caribbean islands, including Antigua, Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Montserrat. Portions of the Dominican Republic were also under a tropical storm warning.

Although it could affect Florida later in the week or over the weekend, its track and intensity forecast remain highly uncertain: “It cannot be stressed enough that since the system is still in the formative stage, greater than average uncertainty exists regarding both the short-term and longer-term track and intensity forecasts,” the hurricane center said.

It’s too early to say how the system could affect the U.S., said Weather Underground co-founder Jeff Masters, who writes for Yale Climate Connections.

He added, though, that “it’s definitely something Florida should be keeping an eye on.”