MIAMI — Tropical Storm Larry has formed in in the eastern Atlantic and is forecast to turn into a major hurricane, possibly a Category 3, as it moves across the open waters far from land.
Larry was quickly moving west at 20 mph across the Atlantic on Wednesday with maximum sustained winds near 45 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm was about 175 miles south of the southernmost Cabo Verde Islands, as of the 5 a.m. Eastern time advisory.
On the forecast track, Larry is expected to move west to west-northwest during the next couple of days followed by a turn to the northwest over the weekend.
Larry is forecast to become a hurricane by late Thursday or Friday and is not a threat to the United States or Florida. The hurricane center expects it will quickly strengthen into a Category 3 storm by the weekend with maximum sustained winds between 115 and 120 mph.
Forecasters say Larry’s rapid strengthening into a major hurricane will be largely due to the “massive equatorward upper-level outflow pattern” it is expected to experience. The hurricane center says it’s the same type of pattern that happened with Hurricane Ida, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, on Sunday.
Forecasters are also continuing to watch a “tenacious” Tropical Depression Kate that could restrengthen into a tropical storm again in the next 24 hours as it moves across the central Atlantic, east of Bermuda.
However, the National Hurricane Center’s official forecast still pegs Kate as weakening into a remnant Thursday and dissipating by Friday.
There’s also a disturbance producing disorganized showers in the southwestern Caribbean Sea that, as of the 8 a.m. update, had a 30% chance of formation in the next two to five days as it moves west or west-northwest at 5 to 10 mph toward Central America.
Land interaction, including with the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, could stifle any future developments, but forecasters said the system could have a second shot at development in the southwest Gulf. Either way, heavy rains will still be possible across portions of Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula late this week and weekend.
———
