South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Tropical storm likely in Gulf by Monday
A tropical storm is expected to develop in the northwest Caribbean Sea by today, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said in a 7 p.m. update Saturday.
Cuba has issued a tropical storm warning for the provinces of Pinar del Rio and Isle of Youth, and Mexico has issued a tropical storm watch for the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from Tulum to Cabo Catoche.
A reconnaissance plane will investigate the system today.
Tropical storm conditions were expected to first reach the coast within the warning area by tonight, making outside preparations difficult or dangerous. The storm is expected to move into the southern Gulf of Mexico on Monday.
Maximum sustained winds were near 30 mph, with higher gusts.
In its morning outlook, hurricane center forecasters said the system didn’t yet have a well-defined circulation but added: “Environmental conditions are expected to become gradually more conducive for further development, and a tropical depression or tropical storm is expected to form over the northwestern Caribbean Sea or the southern Gulf of Mexico on Sunday or Monday while the system moves slowly northward.” Forecasters also said that even if a cyclone did not form, the disturbance would bring “torrential rains primarily to portions of Central America, and these rains should then spread over western Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula during the next few days.”
Over the next five days, forecasters said, the system has an 90 percent chance of developing into a cyclone. The system could soon become a tropical depression or tropical storm, the hurricane center said.