One of the first tropical storms of the season could hit Florida later this week, just in time for July 4 celebrations.
Forecasters have warned that an area of low pressure could develop off the southeast U.S. coast, the eastern Gulf or Florida over the coming week.
While the National Weather Service said it is too early to tell what impact the tropical depression will have, heavy rain could still interrupt Independence Day plans.
If it develops into a named storm - the third of the season - it would be called Chantal. The second named storm, Tropical Storm Barry, disintegrated having hit Mexico early Monday.
“A frontal boundary is expected to stall and weaken off the southeast U.S. coast late this week,” the National Hurricane Center in Miami said on Monday. “An area of low pressure could develop from the weakening front by the weekend off the southeast U.S., over Florida, or over the eastern Gulf. Some gradual tropical or subtropical development could occur thereafter as the low moves little.”
Currently, the National Hurricane Center says that there is a 20 per cent chance of the storm developing in the next seven days.
“Regardless of if it develops, it does look like a wet weekend overall for most of the state of Florida, including the holiday on Friday,” AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva told Newsweek. “Generally speaking, especially for folks in central and northern Florida, this looks like it's going to be a wetter pattern for this weekend overall. Even South Florida as well.”
Storm Barry developed on Sunday before making landfall in Veracruz, Mexico. While not developing further it is still expected to bring an estimated three to six inches of rain across Veracruz, San Luis Potosi, and Tamaulipas through Monday.
It followed the first named storm of the season, Andrea, which developed last week between Bermuda and the Azores.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30 and stretches across the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of America.
With warmer than normal ocean waters, forecasters are expecting yet another unusually busy hurricane season for the Atlantic. But they don’t think it will be as chaotic as 2024, the third-costliest season on record as it spawned killer storms Beryl, Helene and Milton.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's forecast calls for 13 to 19 named storms with six to 10 becoming hurricanes and three to five reaching major status with winds of more than 110 mph (177 kph).
