Tropical Storm Kirk forms and heads west

The National Hurricane Center is now tracking Tropical Storm Kirk, which formed Saturday morning south of the Cape Verde Islands.

The 5 p.m. forecast said Kirk was moving west at almost 15 mph and a westward to westnorth west ward motion at a similar forward speed was expected to continue through the night.

A faster westward motion across the deep tropical Atlantic Ocean is expected today through Tuesday. Maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph with higher gusts.

Kirk could arrive in the islands of the Lesser Antilles by late Wednesday or early Thursday and is now expected to face high wind shear, which could cause the storm to weaken.

Some strengthening is forecast through today, with little change in intensity forecast on Monday and Tuesday. Tropicalstorm-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles, mainly to the northwest of the center.

Forecasters are also watching Tropical Depression 11 near the Windward Islands and keeping a close eye on two other areas of disturbed weather in the Atlantic.

Forecasters say it’s a reminder that the 2018 hurricane season is far from over.

Tropical Depression 11 formed overnight about 500 miles east of the Windward Islands and as of 8 a.m. Saturday, it was moving due west at about 5 mph.

The latest forecast shows the depression is facing high wind shear that could tear it apart and the Hurricane Center shows “the system becoming a remnant low by 36 hours, and dissipates the low entirely by 48 hours well east of the Windward Islands.”

The tropical system that seems most worth keeping an eye on is a wave off the western coast of Africa that the Hurricane Center says has an 80 percent chance of forming into a tropical cyclone in the next few days as it moves across the Atlantic.

The system, just off the African coast, is still more than 2,000 miles from South Florida.

The forecast says “shower and thunderstorm activity continues to become better organized near the center of a low pressure system about 500 miles south of the southern Cabo Verde Islands, and a tropical depression appears to be forming.

“If these trends continue, advisories will be initiated on this system later today (Saturday) while the low moves westward at about 20 mph.”

Looking further north, the Hurricane Center is watching a non-tropical low-pressure system forecast to develop Friday night over the central subtropical Atlantic Ocean midway be- tween Bermuda and the Azores.

The latest forecast says that “onditions are expected to become conducive for the low to acquire subtropical or tropical characteristics, and a subtropical or tropical cyclone is likely to form by early next week while the low meanders over the central Atlantic Ocean.”

The other system — north of South Florida — has a 30 percent chance of forming into a tropical cyclone, the National Hurricane Center says.

The forecast says that “strong upper- level winds are expected to diminish by Sunday or Monday, which could allow for some slow development of this system while it moves westward and then northwestward over the southwestern Atlantic Ocean.”

We’ve already passed the historical peak of hurricane season (Sept. 10), but don’t let your guard down yet. The season runs through Nov. 30.