A strong tropical wave and associated area of low pressure is impacting weather conditions in the northern Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico.
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The main weather threat to Florida and the Treasure Coast continues to be a tropical wave that now has a 70 percent chance of strengthening in the next five days, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center.
The Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter encountered tropical-storm level squalls while invesigation the low-pressure system Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center reported. The bottom line is that while many uncertainties exist at the current time, this storm has the potential to become a risky storm, and folks along the Gulf Coast should closely monitortrusted weather information sources (National weather service, national hurricane center, etc.) for updates on Invest 99L.
Numerous reliable computer models take the system into the Central Bahamas by this weekend.
Beyond this weekend… into next week… the forecast becomes highly uncertain. Whatever happens with it, this system will continue to move west-northwest, then move more west.
As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, Tropical Storm Gaston is just a few puffs away from becoming the season’s third hurricane. It will likely be named Tropical Storm Hermine. This means the tropical wave attracting a lot of attention of late will remain an area of interest moving over parts of the Lesser Antilles with gusty wind and spells of heavy rain. The disturbance is moving west northwestward at about 15 miles per hour across the northern Leeward Island, near or over Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and the Bahamas.
Keep tabs on our social media channels, our website, and our broadcasts over the next few days.
Now known as “Invest 99-L”, the storm is expected to gain the name Hermine soon. Additional strengthening is forecast during the next day or so, and Gaston is expected to become a hurricane later today.
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Emergency managers say this is good time for Floridians to check their hurricane supplies and make sure their storm shutters, if they have them, are easy to get to.
