Gordon could be here sometime this week
By SHARON CALVERT for Sunshine State News
While Tropical Storm Gordon continued to intensify as it tracks toward the open Atlantic, a developing weather system in the Bahamas is now given a high chance to become a tropical depression or tropical storm in the coming days.
Designated Invest 91L by the National Hurricane Center, the storm system is expected to intensify into a tropical system Tuesday or Wednesday when it hits the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
The Hurricane Center has elevated the chances of development to 50 percent over the next two days and 80 percent over the next five days.
If maximum sustained winds with Invest 91L reach 40 mph, it will become the Atlantic’s next named storm of the 2018 hurricane season – Gordon.
While Central Florida may see rain, Southern Florida will see locally heavy rain, gusty winds and strong rip currents through the holiday as Invest 91L approaches the state.
Invest 91L is expected to strengthen when it enters the Gulf of Mexico through the Florida Straits on Monday night or Tuesday morning.
It appears the major target of this developing system will be the northern Gulf Coast from the Florida Panhandle to Southern Louisiana.
“There are favorable environmental conditions over the northern Gulf of Mexico,” AccuWeather hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski said Sunday morning.
Windstorm paths are notoriously changeable, but as of Sunday morning, the National Hurricane Center reports that Tropical Storm Florence is not currently considered a threat to the Eastern Seaboard.
Early Sunday morning, Florence was about 478 miles west-northwest of the southern tip of the southernmost Cabo Verde Islands off the coast of Africa and moving west at about 16 miles per hour.
Winds have strengthened to 60 miles an hour, continuing to move toward the 74 miles per hour threshold for hurricane status.
Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 45 miles from the center and the storm’s minimum central pressure continued to drop, now standing at 999 millibars.
No major change in strength is expected through Tuesday and Florence is forecast to remain a strong tropical storm into Friday as it ventures into the open Atlantic.
Forecasters expect late in the week will be the target for having a much more measurable look of the path Florence will take concerning Florida and the U.S. east coast.
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