National Hurricane Center forecasters warned that a local tropical depression churning across the south Caribbean might gradually turn into a Tropical Storm Nate on track and will hit the Gulf coast and Florida over the weekend.
The storm is currently moving over warm waters and facing light wind shear that will quickly intensify. The sustained winds could reach near 85 mph in three days making it a Category 1 storm and will approach the Gulf Coast.
However there are chances that the storm might weaken once it crosses Central America and the Yucatan.
The National Hurricane said in its latest advisory that the residents along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida will monitor the progress of the system for the next several days and heed the advice given by the local officials.
The storm is expected is to move across northeastern Nicaragua early Thursday and eastern Honduras by late Thursday and Friday that will bring in heavy rain in the Central American coast.
However, it was too early for the forecasters to predict where the storm will impact the Gulf coast. There is a high pressure ridge over the southwest Atlantic and a low pressure trough moving across the Florida Straits that would force it to move quickly into the north-northwest by Friday and into the Gulf of Mexico by Saturday.
The track forecast might get complicated as the wind might be weakened by how much land it crosses.
Track forecast might have wide margins of error, the U.S and the European models differed on the storm’s future path by 90 miles .This year the track forecasts had an average error of about 170 to 230 miles that was forecasted four to five days in advance.
The timing and the magnitude of the storm is still unknown but the storm is expected to bring high winds,storm surge and heavy rains. The Florida Panhandle and the Gulf Coast west to Louisiana should remain alert for the next few days.
Tropical storm warnings have been issued in parts of Nicaragua and the Honduras which is expected to gather heavy rainfall. Costa Rica and Panama is expected to have five to 10 inches of rain which might go upto 20 inches in some locations .
Another tropical depression, the 16th cyclone in a record-breaking season, formed in the southern Caribbean Wednesday morning and could be a weak Category 1 hurricane when it reaches the U.S. coast.
Three lethal storms-Harvey,Irma and Maria were formed in less than 30 days. Wednesday’s depression becomes the 16th cyclone in a record-breaking season that hit over the last two months.
