Published 4 July 2018

Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source

The Atlantic Hurricane Season’s Next Storm Could Develop off Bermuda

FLORIDA, United States, Wednesday July 4, 2018 – A tropical depression, or even Tropical Storm Beryl, could develop in the next few days between Bermuda and the United States, according to the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) in Miami.

Forecasters are watching a trough of low pressure that is bringing with it disorganized showers and thunderstorms within a few hundred miles to the south of Bermuda.

“Environmental conditions appear conducive for some development of this system, and a tropical depression could form before the end of the week while the system moves west-northwestward and then northward between Bermuda and the east coast of the United States,” the NHC said.

But it added that the system is forecast to interact with a frontal system on Sunday, which would limit any additional development.

Even so, it has given the system a medium chance of developing further.

It put the odds of formation through the next two days at 40 per cent, and increased that to 60 per cent over a five-day period.

There is also some other activity elsewhere in the Atlantic.

A second tropical wave has developed in the eastern Atlantic several hundred miles west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands, off Africa’s west coast.

This morning, it was moving to the west at 10 to 15 miles per hour and the NHC said it had a 30 per cent chance of developing more over the next two to five days.

However, it added that upper-level winds are expected to become less conducive for development by this weekend when the system approaches the Lesser Antilles.

It has been a quiet season so far, with no storm activity since Subtropical Storm Alberto formed in May, ahead of the June 1 start of the Atlantic hurricane season.