(Note: Last updated 5:00 p.m. ET)
The low pressure area we’ve been following for over a week has developed a closed circulation near the north coast of Cuba. As a result, it has been designated Tropical Depression Nine. The system should move to the west into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, where wind shear should decrease.
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Tropical Depression Nine is forecast to become a tropical storm in a day or two. After that, a upper level trough will come along and turn it back toward the east.
This could bring it across Central or North Florida later in the week. It should be moving faster at that time.
No watches or warnings have been issued at this time. However, that will likely change tomorrow.
Remember that the spaghetti model plot does not indicate the strength of a system or even development at all. It only predicts where this broad area of low pressure is expected to go.
Tropical Depression Eight, meanwhile, is about 300 miles west of Bermuda and about 400 miles Southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Maximum sustained winds are 35 mph. This could become a tropical storm on Monday and a tropical storm watch may be issued for the Outer Banks of North Carolina later today.
Hurricane Gaston has been strengthening in the Atlantic Ocean. It’s now a Category 2 hurricane. No threat to the United States.
Finally, a tropical wave is expected to move off the west coast of Africa on Tuesday. Conditions are expected to be favorable for development of this system later this week while it moves westward over the eastern Atlantic.
