MULTIPLE TROPICAL STORMS LIKELY TO FORM LATER IN THE WEEK… Odds are we’ll have one or more tropical storms to monitor later this week. At least one of these tropical waves has a growing chance of moving into the Gulf of Mexico in about a week. Let me be abundantly clear that we do not know just yet exactly when or where these two systems will end up OR if they’ll develop, but chances continue to increase that formal development will happen. The National Hurricane Center now says there is a 40-50% chance of both systems becoming a tropical storm, respectively, through Friday. One tropical wave is currently located a few hundred miles east of the Lesser Antilles, approaching Barbados. This is the “front” tropical wave that we’ll need to monitor carefully later this week as the system approaches the western Caribbean, Jamaica, Cuba, and potentially the southern Gulf of Mexico. The “second” tropical wave is located closer to the African continent and is moving west. Locally, we’ll have a round of showers and storms later today with high temperatures in the low-90s. Let’s look at all of your Monday forecast details.
SCATTERED POP-UP STORMS THIS AFTERNOON INTO THIS EVENING… Scattered thunderstorms will likely pop up this afternoon into this evening across the region, with the greatest chance of rain likely across northwest Florida. There absolutely could be a few storms in south central or southwest Alabama, but the greatest chance of rain likely will happen closer to the immediate coast in northwest Florida. Heavy rain, gusty winds, and cloud-to-ground lightning will be concerns in the strongest of the storms. The greatest chance of rain today happens between 11AM to 8PM. Storms will probably fade away after sunset pretty quickly today. High temperatures will be around the 90 degree mark across the region.
HIGHER RAIN CHANCES BY THE END OF THE WEEK… Rain and thunderstorms will become more pronounced as we get into the latter half of the week. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday will feature scattered to numerous thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening hours as a stationary front in the Gulf of Mexico lifts northward toward the Alabama and northwest Florida beaches. High temperatures will again be near 90 with morning lows around 70 each day.
LAST ADVISORY ISSUED ON JOSEPHINE… The National Hurricane Center issued the final advisory on Tropical Depression Josephine last evening. Josephine was a weak tropical storm for the duration of its existence. There is no longer a closed center of circulation, thus the system is no longer a tropical cyclone. Southwesterly shear will continue to stream in over the remnants of Josephine, likely preventing any re-intensification from happening.
RUNNING OUT OF TROPICAL STORM NAMES… We have truly flown through the first 11 tropical storm/hurricane names in the 2020 Atlantic Basin Naming List. We now have 10 names left in the list before the Greek Alphabet will need to be employed for only the 2nd time ever. The first time this happened was in 2005 in what was then the most active Atlantic hurricane season ever recorded. 2020 is poised to potentially tie or break the number of named storms IF current trends continue. The next names on the 2020 naming list are Laura, Marco, Nana, Omar, Paulette, Rene, Sally, Teddy, Vicky, and Wilfred. IF we get to the end of the list, that is when new named storms will take the names from the Greek Alphabet (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and so forth).
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See all the details in your Monday #rzw forecast video… Have a great day!