Weather

Two tropical systems developing, threatening Lesser Antilles

Miami, Aug 8 (EFE).- Two of the three weather systems that meteorologists are monitoring in the Atlantic Ocean could evolve in the coming days into tropical depressions or storms and are heading toward the Lesser Antilles, while the third one – closer to Africa – on Sunday is showing scant possibilities of transforming itself in that way.

An area of low pressure with disorganized heavy showers and electrical storms is presently several hundred miles east of the Windward Islands in the tropical Atlantic and could become a tropical depression as it moves toward the west, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center reported.

Simultaneously, another low pressure area featuring thunderstorms is located in the tropical Atlantic midway between the Cape Verde Islands and the Lesser Antilles, and since Saturday has been better concentrated, according to the NHC.

Both systems are heading toward the Lesser Antilles, where the first of them could arrive on Monday night.

According to the projected trajectory cone, both systems could affect Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba next week.

There is a moderate – or about 40 percent – chance that both systems will increase in strength within the next five days.

The systems’ progress should be monitored in the coming days since they could bring heavy rains and wind gusts, according to the NHC bulletin issued at 8 am on Sunday.

Meanwhile, rain and T-storms associated with a wide low pressure zone located about 100 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands have diminished since Saturday and the probability that this system could increase in strength in the coming five days is low.

The three systems are linked to a broad stationary front, meteorologist Brian Norcross, with South Florida’s local Channel 10, said Sunday.

The technical name for scenarios of this kind is a “monsoon depression,” he said, adding that the weather phenomenon could bring heavy moisture and kick start the wind circulation pattern that could help the systems to evolve.

But Norcross added that it is difficult to know what will happen with these systems at this early stage.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced in recent days its updated forecast for this year’s hurricane season, saying that the Atlantic should experience greater than normal storm activity.

The updated forecast put out the by NOAA’s weather forecasting center says that this year should see between 15-21 named storms, of which 7-10 could become hurricanes, and 3-5 of which could be big storms – that is, storms reaching Category 3, 4 or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

At the half-way point of the current Atlantic storm season, which officially began on June 1, so far there have been five tropical storms – Ana, Bill, Claudette, Danny and Elsa – the latter of which became the first hurricane of the year.

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