ISOLATED STORMS LIKELY THIS EVENING; MORE RAIN TOMORROW; TRACKING ETA… A few thunderstorms will be possible today, particularly this evening, across south Alabama and northwest Florida. Storms will be more numerous across the region on Wednesday. Tropical Storm Eta continues to meander around the southern Gulf of Mexico this morning. Eta is expected to move north over the next few days, very slowly. Confidence is low in where Eta will ultimately move, but there is growing confidence this morning that Eta may simply fizzle out as the storm moves north. We’re also tracking Subtropical Storm Theta in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, the record-breaking 29th named storm of the 2020 season. If that weren’t enough, we’re also looking at another potential tropical storm setting up in the Caribbean Sea. Let’s look at all of your Tuesday forecast details.
INCREASING CHANCE OF RAIN TONIGHT INTO TOMORROW… Showers and thunderstorms will be more numerous across the region on Wednesday, but we could have a few storms around this evening between 3PM and 9PM. Storms are expected to be fairly brief for any given area and widespread severe weather is not expected on this Tuesday.
ETA TO SIT AND SPIN IN SOUTHERN GULF… Tropical Storm Eta is set to slowly move northward in the central Gulf of Mexico over the next several days. While Eta could become a hurricane in the short term, there is a good chance Eta will meet its ultimate demise in 4-5 days as dry air, increasing shear, and cooler water across the northern half of the Gulf really take a toll on the storm. While it is not a guarantee, confidence IS growing that significant local impacts from Eta in south Alabama and northwest Florida won’t happen. As I’ve been saying for days, it remains too early to give an “all clear” locally from Eta, but I think we finally see some light at the end of the tunnel. Eta is set to remain to our south at least through Thursday.
60% CHANCE OF NEW TROPICAL STORM FORMING IN CARIBBEAN… We continue to monitor the area of disturbed weather in the eastern Caribbean Sea associated with a tropical wave. This system now has a 60% chance of becoming a tropical storm in the days ahead. From NHC: “A tropical wave is forecast to move over the central Caribbean Sea, where an area of low pressure could form in a couple of days. Environmental conditions are forecast to be conducive for development, and a tropical depression could form late this week or over the weekend while the system moves slowly westward.”
SUBTROPICAL STORM THETA IN THE EASTERN ATLANTIC… The National Hurricane Center started issuing advisories on Subtropical Storm Theta, located in the remote eastern Atlantic Ocean southwest of the Azores. Theta is not expected to affect land areas through at least Friday as it continues moving east and away from the North American continent. Note that Theta is WELL away from any land areas, with the center of the storm noted about 995 miles southwest of the Azores. Theta is forecast to become a purely tropical storm in the next few days.
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 Tuesday #rzw forecast video. Have a nice day!