Strong winds, heavy rains, and possible flash floods and mudslides are expected to occur over portions of the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and the southeastern and central Bahamas during the next couple of days.
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Friday evening, Invest 99L was located over the central Bahamas and moving west-northwestward at 10 miles per hour. However, some of the more reliable models are showing the system entering the eastern Gulf of Mexico as a week system and going into the Florida panhandle by mid-week, Grigsby said.
Here is good news for Southwest Florida: an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft that was scheduled to investigate Invest 99L this morning has been canceled.
It will, however, bring heavy rainfall, some gusty winds and high surf along the west coast of the sunshine state by early next week.
“Rain chances will increase in South Florida and even Central Florida as the system approaches”, Bridges said. Currently, the storm is roughly 1,000 miles southeast of Miami and moving on a west-northwest path.
The low is forecast to continue on a W-NW track this weekend, and there is a chance it could get into the Straits of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical wave.
Tropical Storm Gaston could become a hurricane again later tonight or on Saturday.
Johnson predicted 1 to 3 inches of rain for the region, with the potential of 4 inches in some areas, “but it’s going to depend on how it develops”.
Meantime, a second disturbance has appeared in the Gulf of Mexico.
Hurricane Gaston is expected to weaken later today and revert from a hurricane back to a tropical storm, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
The hurricane season runs from June to November, but the two-month period from mid-August to mid-October poses the greatest risk for storm activity.
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According to the National Hurricane Center, the chance of formation during the next 48 hours is medium (40 percent) but the chance of formation during the next five days is high (70 percent).
