WATCHING TD22/WILFRED-TO-BE IN GULF; COOLER WEEKEND LOCALLY… Tropical Depression 22 will likely become Tropical Storm Wilfred in the western Gulf of Mexico today. The new tropical depression is expected to not move very much at all in the western Gulf in the days ahead as it gradually strengthens. Our big weather headline this weekend will be COOLER temperatures! High temperatures on this Friday will top out in the mid-80s but highs on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday will be in the mid- to upper-70s. Overnight lows by Monday morning will be in the upper-50s. We also continue to monitor Hurricane Teddy and two tropical waves in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Let’s look at all of your Friday forecast details.
FORECAST TRACK FOR TD22/WILFRED UNCERTAIN IN LONG TERM… There is excellent model agreement that Tropical Depression 22 will move very slowly over the western Gulf of Mexico over the next few days. The system is expected to move a bit closer to the Texas coast by Tuesday of the upcoming week, most likely as a strong tropical storm. Beyond that, it is truly anyone’s guess as to where TD22 ultimately ends up. Some models, like the ECMWF/Euro, show the system ejecting northeast toward Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama by the middle part of next week. The good news is the Euro has suggested fairly consistently this would happen as a weakening system, probably as a tropical storm, that would be moving quickly. MANY other models show the system moving into Texas and weakening. It is too early to say for sure where TD22 ends up, but we will keep you posted.
POWERFUL HURRICANE TEDDY TO THREATEN BERMUDA… Hurricane Teddy remains a powerful, category 4 hurricane with maximum winds near 140 mph. Fortunately, Teddy is over the open waters of the central Atlantic Ocean and will remain over open water for the next few days. The one land area under threat from Teddy right now is Bermuda. After being battered by Hurricane Paulette last week, Bermuda faces what could be a more potent storm in Teddy in 3-4 days. Teddy will not be an issue for Alabama or northwest Florida.
LAST ADVISORY FOR VICKY… The National Hurricane Center issued its final advisory on Tropical Depression Vicky yesterday. Vicky weakened to a remnant low in the central Atlantic Ocean.
FEW SHOWERS POSSIBLE THIS EVENING… Don’t be surprised to see some showers around this afternoon and especially this evening and into the overnight hours. Rain totals overnight will generally be light and negligible compared to what happened with Hurricane Sally on Tuesday into Wednesday. I am not expecting the rain amounts tonight to affect ongoing river and creek water levels in any type of meaningful way.
SET UP APP ALERTS… We send quite a bit of Low-Level Alerts in our RedZone Weather app. The app is totally free for you! redzoneweather.com/app is the link where you see the download links to your respective app store for iOS and for Android devices. Once you have the app downloaded to your smartphone or tablet device, be sure to visit the Alerts tab to customize the alerts you would like to receive straight from me.
See all the details in your Friday #rzw forecast video. Have a great Thursday evening!