This region has a 90% chance of development over the next 5 days and could become a tropical depression over the weekend.
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Once this tropical wave moves into the Gulf of Mexico, it will have less wind shear, no land interaction and plenty of warm water.
In the Pacific, Tropical Storm Lester was strengthening far off Mexico’s coast.
Should the system develop into a cyclone before any other system, it will be given the name “Hermine”.
The weak area of low pressure dubbed Invest 99L remains disorganized, with conditions unfavorable for development during the next day or so, National Hurricane Center forecasters said Friday evening (Aug. 26).
Last year’s number of storms was below average, with 11 tropical storms in the Atlantic, six of which became hurricanes, including two major ones.
The storm, drifting to the north-northwest, could gain momentum as it nears the central Bahamas late Friday into Saturday and approach the South Florida coast, 10Weather WTSP meteorologist Bobby Deskins said.
An Airforce Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft is scheduled to investigate the wave later this morning.
Currently, the storm is roughly 1,000 miles southeast of Miami and moving on a west-northwest path.
According to the National Hurricane Center, there’s a 30 percent or “low” chance that Invest 99 will develop into an organized formation over the next 48 hours. It has a 60 percent chance of developing more over the next five days.
Friday evening, Invest 99L was located over the central Bahamas and moving west-northwestward at 10 miles per hour.
Maximum sustained winds are being measured near 50 miles per hour with higher gusts being recorded, while tropical storm force winds are now extending outward up to 45 miles from the storm’s center.
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As hurricane season’s peak continues, emergency management officials urge residents throughout Tampa Bay to be prepared.
