Gulf Coast Put on Alert for Likely Tropical Weather

Hurricane experts are growing more concerned about a possible landfall of a major storm on the U.S. Gulf Coast next week. This is what forecasters are monitoring heading into the new week.

New Week Likely to Bring New Named Tropical Feature

The latest forecast models in the tropics indicate that it is likely that a tropical storm will come together in the northwestern Caribbean Sea or the southern Gulf of Mexico in the days ahead. The feature will find the necessary conditions to potentially intensify into a hurricane prior to making a landfall.

Even if the feature does not develop into a hurricane, the Gulf Coast will experience some degree of impacts. There are a number of factors that will influence where the storm forms and where it will head. Because of the uncertainty at this point in the forecast, it is important for all interests along the Gulf Coast to stay abreast of the development.

The weekend was generally calm throughout the Caribbean. However, there are signs that a Central America gyre will begin to wreak havoc next week. A gyre is defined as a rotating and rising mass of air that generates low pressure and moisture. The elements then form clouds that can go on to produce a tropical cyclone. These gyres become more common later in the fall months on the back end of the Atlantic hurricane season.

Forecasters believe that there is currently a high risk for tropical development between Tuesday and Thursday in the area stretching from the northwestern Caribbean Sea and over into the southern Gulf of Mexico. Should this system take on defined tropical characteristics, it will be called Helene.

Because the gyre is currently spinning near land, it will take longer for it to develop. But forecasters warn that it could intensify quickly once it moves over open ocean waters.