Tropics: Imelda Weakens, Jerry Forms, Humberto Stronger
Tuesday we expressed our concerns over an area of disturbed weather off the upper Texas coast and the fact that this system appeared to be strengthening. That happened and yesterday Tropical Storm Imelda formed and promptly made landfall. The good news is that Imelda, now classified as a tropical depression is going to help ease drought conditions in Texas and might fire up a few more showers for Southwest Louisiana.
Up next in the tropics is Jerry. As of early this morning, Jerry was still about 1600 miles east of the Leeward Islands. The track forecast suggests the system will remain at sea and not be a threat to land for at least the next five days.
Oh, there's still Hurricane Humberto. That system has become almost an afterthought for us in the United States as it continues to move away from our coast. However, residents of Bermuda are keeping a watchful eye on the track of Humberto. The system is expected to pass just to the north of island later this evening as a major hurricane.
Meanwhile, in the tropics, the National Hurricane Center is monitoring two more areas of potential tropical trouble. Both of these areas of disturbed weather are not forecast to develop quickly but both are showing signs they could spin up into tropical cyclones in the coming days.
The first area of disturbed weather is east of the Windward Islands in the lower latitudes of the tropical Atlantic Basin. forecasters are giving this system a 20% probability of becoming a tropical cyclone by this weekend.
The second monitored area is currently moving off the African Continent and has been given a 20% probability of strengthening into a tropical cyclone over the next five days.