Development of Another Tropical Storm is ‘Highly Likely’: Weather Report
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Following the passing of Tropical Storm Rafael, meteorologists are projecting the development of another storm over the coming weekend.
As Rafael made its way across the Caribbean on Tuesday, several sections of Jamaica suffered heavy rainfall, causing flooding and landslides. With the hurricane season not set to end until the end of November, hurricane forecast supercomputers have projected a high chance of the development of a tropical storm or hurricane in the western Caribbean.
Meteorologists are currently monitoring areas of rain and storm building near the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and St. Martin down through Guadeloupe. While these areas of rain remain expansive in the northeastern Caribbean, they are scattered around St. Lucia, Barbados, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Computer models are projecting the eastern Caribbean to remain active, with the area of rain expected to build as it approaches the western Caribbean near Jamaica, Central America, and the Cayman Islands. Four of the world’s major hurricane models project that this area will develop into the season’s next named system, Sara.
While the more conservative Canadian and German models project that the area will only strengthen into a tropical storm, the American and European models project Sara to strengthen into a hurricane. Sara is expected to start developing on Friday or Saturday, resulting in increased rainfall in parts of Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Central America.
According to the American model, Tropical Storm Sara could strengthen into a hurricane by Sunday. After developing near Jamaica and Belize, the system is projected to travel north into the Gulf of Mexico.
Tropical storm Sara would be the third named system this month. While November typically only produces an average of one named system for the end of the season, water temperatures in and around the Caribbean are higher than average.
Learn more in the video report below.
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