FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ The tropical wave moving across the Atlantic Ocean from off the coast of Africa has a 60% chance of strengthening into a tropical cyclone over the next five days, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory.
Meanwhile, the tropical wave that was bringing disturbed weather from Puerto Rico to the southeastern Bahamas on Wednesday has just a 10% chance of developing into a tropical cyclone _ which refers to tropical depressions, tropical storms and hurricanes _ but it could bring rain and flooding to South Florida this weekend.
Forecasters have steadily increased the chances that the wave closer to Africa develops into a cyclone.
"Environmental conditions are forecast to become more conducive for development over the weekend and a tropical depression could form by early next week several hundred miles east of the Lesser Antilles," meteorologist David Zelinsky wrote in the Miami-based hurricane center's 2 p.m. EDT advisory Wednesday. The Lesser Antilles mark the eastern perimeter of the Caribbean.
The disturbance is expected to travel west over the open Atlantic at about 15 miles per hour.
The next system to develop into a tropical cyclone will be named Chantal, the third named storm of the 2019 hurricane season.
As for the wave already in the Caribbean, Zelinsky writes that it "is forecast to move northwestward to northward during the next couple of days, producing locally heavy rainfall over portions of the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas and Florida.
"Conditions could become marginally conducive for development over the weekend while the system turns and accelerates northeastward off the southeast U.S. coast," he added.
The South Florida forecast office of the National Weather Service said Wednesday morning that the tropical wave closer to us will "bring a chance for heavy rainfall and localized flooding into the weekend."
Forecasters also noted that minor coastal flooding will also be a possibility as a new moon and higher-than-average tides combines with the expected rain from the tropical wave.
About 2 to 3 inches of rain was expected through the weekend in South Florida.
