By midweek, a disturbance in the Caribbean Sea is predicted to intensify into a hurricane that would target Florida.
The National Hurricane Center reports that as of Monday afternoon, the system—which is currently classified as Potential Tropical Cyclone 9 but could become Helene if it is upgraded to a storm—was located roughly 100 miles southwest of Grand Cayman and had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph with stronger gusts.
It was traveling seven miles per hour in a north-northwest direction.
According to the hurricane center, a turn to the northwest is anticipated on Tuesday, with an acceleration into the Northeast on Wednesday and Thursday.
“On the forecast track, the center of the system is forecast to move across the northwestern Caribbean Sea through Tuesday night, and then over the eastern Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday and Thursday,” the hurricane center stated on Monday evening.
It is predicted that the disturbance will intensify into a hurricane on Wednesday and continue to pass through the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The National Weather Service defines a tropical storm as having winds of 39 mph or more, and a hurricane as having winds of 74 mph or more.
Warm water, a common hurricane fuel, may cause the system to strengthen as it approaches the Gulf of Mexico. On a fall Monday, numerous buoys monitored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recorded temperatures ranging from 84 to 89 degrees, despite the fact that normal sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico peak close to 80 degrees in the summer.
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A state of emergency was proclaimed in 41 counties by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday due to the probable storm’s “significant threat” of severe rainfall, flooding, storm surge, and damaging winds on the state’s Gulf coast.
According to the hurricane center, there is a chance of flash and urban flooding from the possible storm, which may dump 4 to 12 inches of rain on western Cuba and the Cayman Islands and 2 to 6 inches on the eastern Yucatán Peninsula.
According to the center, “Heavy rainfall will spread into the Southeast U.S. starting on Wednesday and continuing through Friday, bringing a risk of flash and river flooding.
