[ad_1]
The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is intensifying.
A Gulf of Mexico system soon turned into Tropical Storm Alberto, prompting a Tropical Storm Watch for the Texas coast, the first of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. The National Hurricane Center issued the watch Monday afternoon for possible Tropical Storm No. 1.
Heavy rainfall that could cause flooding is expected across the western Gulf Coast, with rainfall amounts reaching up to 15 inches, according to the National Hurricane Center. The threat of heavy rain and flash flooding is expected to intensify through Tuesday morning, according to National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan.
A tropical storm watch has been issued for the Texas coast from Port O’Connor south to the mouth of the Rio Grande. A watch means tropical storm-force rains are possible in the area, usually within the next 48 hours.
“Heavy rains have already begun falling along parts of the Gulf Coast, which could result in flooding and flash flooding over the next few days,” Brennan said in an update Monday afternoon. “This flooding threat will continue through the rest of the week.”
The hurricane’s maximum sustained winds were nearly 40 mph, with stronger gusts, as of 11 p.m. ET Monday. The National Hurricane Center described the hurricane as “very large” and said tropical storm-force winds extended up to 290 miles northeast from the center.
The National Hurricane Center expects the hurricane to become a tropical storm by Wednesday and urges residents along the western and northwestern Gulf Coast to stay on alert.
The hurricane was moving north at about seven miles per hour as of 11 p.m. Monday, according to the hurricane center. It is expected to change course to a west-northwest track Tuesday night or Wednesday, and “the hurricane will likely approach the western Gulf of Mexico late Wednesday,” the center said in an alert late Monday.
Forecasters said Monday that one of two separate tropical storms expected to strengthen this week – the other is in the Atlantic – could each affect parts of the southern United States.
Alberto will be the first named storm in what is expected to be a heavy Atlantic hurricane season.
Tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico?
According to AccuWeather, the Gulf of Mexico storm is expected to strengthen into a tropical depression and then a tropical storm before making landfall in the northern Gulf of Mexico. If sustained winds reach 39 mph, it will become Tropical Storm Alberto.
The storm is likely to make landfall in Mexico on Wednesday, but the National Hurricane Center warned that heavy rains are expected to spread across parts of the northwestern U.S. Gulf of Mexico by the middle of the week. Additionally, severe wind warnings have been issued for parts of the Gulf of Mexico.
“Even if the tropical storm doesn’t reach tropical storm levels, abundant, deep clouds of tropical moisture are expected to move into Mexico, Texas and Louisiana through mid-week,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski explained.
Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore “Double-digit rainfall amounts are possible along the Texas coast and in Houston,” it warned. Flash flooding is possible in parts of Texas, including Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Houston and San Antonio, according to Weather.com.
An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft is scheduled to investigate the system later Monday.
Busy season coming up:The 2024 NOAA hurricane season forecast is unlike any other. See the record-breaking predictions.
The Atlantic system is also noteworthy.
Forecasters on Monday were also keeping an eye on a developing tropical depression in the Atlantic. The depression, which was a few hundred miles east of the Bahamas on Monday, is “projected to approach the southeastern U.S. coast on Thursday or Friday,” the hurricane center said.
“This appears to be a fast-moving, compact low pressure system that will move westward into northeast Florida and possibly southeast Georgia on Thursday,” Pydynowski said.
Areas from Melbourne, Florida, to Charleston, South Carolina, will be at risk of heavy rain from the storm.
The National Weather Service in Jacksonville, Florida, warned of “numerous to widespread showers and severe storms, some with strong and gusty winds, pushing overland.”
Potential for a “special” year
As Alberto forms, storm activity is expected to pick up this year: NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said last month that the Atlantic hurricane season is shaping up to be “extraordinary,” with “an 85 percent chance of being above normal.”
The most named storms on record in a single season was 30, set in 2020. Based on weather records from 1991 to 2020, a typical year averages about 14 tropical storms, with seven of those developing into hurricanes.
Contributors: Cheryl McLeod and Kim Luciani, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida
[ad_2]
Source link
