Tropical trouble in the Gulf? Forecasters watching
Tropical weather watchers will have their eyes on the Gulf of Mexico for the next few days.
An area of disturbed weather has developed there and will track eastward toward the Florida Peninsula this weekend.
As of Tuesday afternoon the National Hurricane Center was giving the disturbance a low chance (20 percent) of developing into a tropical depression or storm over the next seven days.
But it’s also a reminder that the official start of the Atlantic 2023 hurricane season arrives on Thursday, June 1.
Forecasters said rain and storms over the Gulf on Tuesday were associated with a trough of low pressure at the surface that was interacting with another trough higher up in the atmosphere.
The hurricane center said conditions were only “marginally favorable” for the system to develop over the next few days. It is expected to move over the Florida Peninsula by this weekend and then into the southwestern Atlantic early next week.
The disturbance could bring heavy rain and gusty winds to Florida later this week.
It could also touch off some rain and storms in Alabama, according to the National Weather Service in Mobile:
NOAA released its hurricane outlook for the Atlantic last week, and forecasters said a near-average season was expected.
NOAA’s outlook suggests there could be 12-17 named storms (that includes tropical storms and hurricanes), five to nine hurricanes and one to four major hurricanes (Category 3 or stronger storms).
According to NOAA an average season in the Atlantic basin has 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes.