ORLANDO, Fla. _ While Hurricane Dorian threatens Florida, Tropical Storm Fernand formed in the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday afternoon; meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center was also keeping track of two more tropical waves that could become tropical depressions.
The government of Mexico issued a tropical storm warning for the northeast coast of Mexico from La Pesca to Barra del Tordo and from Barra El Mezquital to the Mouth of the Rio Grande River.
As of 2 p.m. EDT, Fernand was about 160 miles east of La Pesca, Mexico with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and moving west at 7 mph.
It's expected to drop 6 to 12 inches of rain with isolated pockets of 15 inches in Mexico that could cause life-threatening mudslides and flash floods, the NHC said. South Texas and the lower Texas coast is expected to receive 2 to 4 inches of rain with isolated areas of 6 inches.
In the Atlantic, a tropical wave located a few hundred miles west of the Cape Verde Islands is becoming more defined, the NHC said, and is also expected to become a tropical depression today as it moves generally northwestward across the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean. The NHC puts chances of tropical depression formation at 90% in the next 48 hours.
In the mid-Atlantic, a trough of low pressure located several hundred miles south-southeast of Bermuda, is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms, the NHC said. The chance of a tropical depression forming from this storm is 40% in the next 48 hours and 40% in the next five days.
Another tropical wave that formed Monday between the coast of Africa and the Cape Verde Islands could become a tropical depression late this week or over the weekend, the NHC said. The system is the only one projected to move closer to Florida as it moves westward to west-northwestward, with chances of tropical system formation placed at 60% in the next five days.
After Tropical Storm Fernand forms, the next named storm would be Tropical Storm Gabrielle.
The hurricane season typically peaks between mid-August and late October.
In 2004, Florida saw four hurricanes strike between August and September when hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne pummeled the state in short order.
