Tropical Depressions, Tropical Storms, and Hurricanes all have different characteristics that are compared and contrasted in this video
MIAMI – A disturbance swirling over the Caribbean Sea on Thursday has now been designated Tropical Depression Nineteen, and forecasters say the system will likely strengthen into Tropical Storm Sara later today.
What’s the latest with Tropical Depression Nineteen?
(FOX Weather)
Tropical Depression Nineteen is located in the Caribbean Sea about 280 miles east of Isla Guanaja in Honduras. Its peak winds are 35 mph, and it is slowly moving westward.
What’s the forecast for Tropical Depression Nineteen?
(FOX Weather)
The NHC says Tropical Depression 19 will continue to move westward toward the western Caribbean Sea, and Jamaica should see showers and thunderstorms associated with the system throughout the next day.
(FOX Weather)
Florida on alert as long-range forecasts indicate possible impacts from likely-Sara
Likely-Sara is forecast to meander around Central America through the weekend and into Mexico‘s Yucatán Peninsula into early next week as the steering currents remain light.
“High pressure nudges in from the north and west over the weekend, and that more or less locks this thing down in the Caribbean into the early part of next week,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Ian Oliver said. “There’s nowhere to go off to the north because … that high pressure acts like a wall. So this thing is stuck there … that’s why this (forecast) cone looks kind of funky at this point.”
Meanwhile, the system can take advantage of the warm waters and low wind shear while it sits over water, though the storm may weaken some if it drifts over land.
The high pressure should begin to move around Tuesday or Wednesday next week, potentially unlocking the Gulf of Mexico. But where it sets up will ultimately determine the path of future-Sara.
(FOX Weather)
The steering currents may push the system into Central America or allow likely-Sara to move north and track into the Gulf of Mexico sometime next week – and could eventually impact Florida.
“The fact that so many of the variety of computer forecast models are indicating a threat to Florida is concerning, but things can change,” Norcross said. “As always, when a system is just developing, forecast errors are likely to be large.”
In the meantime, the forecast cone will remain bottled up until the next day or two, when the fifth day of the forecast moves into next week.
“It won’t be until (Thursday), (or) the day after, when we get this five-day cone up into the Gulf of Mexico that we’ll start to see it have more of a shape that arcs off to the north and east,” Oliver said.