The National Weather Service said there is a 60 percent chance it will develop into a tropical storm over the next five days, but a low chance for development over the next two days. The storm is expected to move northwest, but decrease in forward strength in the next 48 hours.
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Southwest Florida weather: Expect some gusty winds and potentially heavy rain Sunday and into Monday.
It’s a system that has been getting the most attention throughout the week because the other storm in the Atlantic Ocean, Tropical Storm Gaston, was expected to stay out at sea.
Another disturbance that’s already in the Gulf could also bring rain to the Southeast – and unfortunately to parts of flood-stricken Louisiana and Texas.
Lester’s hurricane-force winds extend up to 25 miles (35 kilometers) from its center, and tropical-force winds extend outward up to 90 miles (150 kilometers).
Forecasters expect Lester to continue west over the next few days with maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour.
The hurricane center said dry air near 91L could slow its development.
The system, with maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour (100 km per hour), is located about 820 miles (1,325 km) east-southeast of Bermuda, the Miami-based weather forecaster said.
Tropical Storm Madeline continues on a northwest trajectory, but is forecast to make a left turn and make a beeline between the Big Island and Maui sometime Wednesday into Thursday, as a severe tropical storm, and perhaps not the hurricane that Hawaii hasn’t seen in 23 years.
As a note, the Emergency Measures Organisation (EMO) continues to closely monitor Tropical Storm Gaston. Another area of clouds south of Hawaii is not expected to affect the weather in the state.
Gaston had winds of 65 miles per hour, and the hurricane center said the storm could strengthen today and become a hurricane for the second time.
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The center’s five-day forecast predicts however that Gaston will switch directions on Tuesday and move northeast back into the open ocean, and away from the United States mainland.
