Published 14 August 2020
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
By Michael Sol Warren | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Forecasters are watching an area of low pressure off the East Coast to see if it will become the Atlantic’s latest tropical storm.
The low pressure system, which is 100 miles northeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, has a 40% chance of become a tropical cyclone in the next 48 hours, and a 50% chance of such formation in the next five days, according to the National Hurricane Center’s 11 a.m. forecast on Friday morning.
Regardless of tropical cyclone formation, the low pressure system is expected to move east into the Atlantic and pose little threat to land.
If the low pressure system does form into a tropical cyclone, it will likely become the earliest K-storm on record. That distinction is currently held by 2005′s infamous Hurricane Katrina, which was named on August 24 of that year.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Josephine — which became the earliest J storm on record when it was named Thursday morning — continues to churn towards the Caribbean. There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect because of Josephine as of Friday morning.
Josephine is expected to turn north in coming days, avoiding landfall with any nearby islands. Still, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the northern Leeward Islands are expected to get between one and three inches of rain from the storm.
Aside from the forecasted rain in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, the chances of the continental U.S. feeling any impact from Josephine appear very slim at this time. Still, the parts of the country remain wary in light of destruction caused by Hurricane Isaias earlier this month. National forecasters have warned that this year’s hurricane season, which is already producing storms at record pace, threatens to be extremely active through the rest of summer and fall.
Hurricane Hunter aircraft are scheduled to fly through Josephine on Friday afternoon.
