Like clockwork, the tropics fired up over the weekend as we rolled into September, the peak month of Hurricane Season in the Atlantic. In just the past few days, there are now three systems being monitored by the National Hurricane Center. The first, Tropical Storm Gordon, is forecast to strengthen to a Category 1 storm and make landfall tonight. There are tropical storm warnings and hurricane warnings along the Gulf Coast where he is expected to make landfall.
A little further out at sea is Hurricane Florence. She is a Category 1 storm and is expected to bounce back and forth from Tropical Storm status and Hurricane status. The good news with this forecast is over the next five days, she will stay over the ocean and will have no interaction with land. Beyond that the forecast becomes a little more uncertain. Most models do keep it out over the ocean at that point, but a few do have her pushing a little closer to the east coast. It’ll be something to watch over the next week or so.
Finally, a broad area of low pressure has just pushed off the African coast and is moving westward. Right now it’s uncertain if this will turn into anything significant – the National Hurricane Center gives this a 30% chance of developing into a tropical system.
