The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is approaching the blasting time and as expected, the storm formation area is becoming more active as the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued a warning for potential tropical storm No. 5, which is gradually forming east of the Leeward Islands.
The NHC's storm forecast at 2:00 p.m. on August 10 local time shows that the low pressure with a wide range of showers and thunderstorms has been more active since August 7 and is currently located in the central tropical Atlantic, between the Cape Verde Islands and the Lesser Antilles Islands of the Caribbean. The NHC offers a 40% chance of a system developing in the next two days and an 80% chance in the next seven days.
However, by August 11, the NHC announced that Hurricane No. 5 had formed in the Atlantic Ocean, earlier than previously forecast.
The tropical region has been more active in the past few weeks with the development of Hurricane Debby, the first to make landfall in Florida (USA) and then making a second landfall in South Carolina as a tropical storm.
And then the Invest 98L depression began to form as it moved through the warm waters of the tropical Atlantic and eventually became a storm that is now known as storm No. 5.
Since 2017, a potential tropical storm has allowed the NHC to issue routine warnings about a system that has not yet developed into a tropical depression or tropical storm but carries a threat of winds of more than 62 km/h, making landfall within 48 hours.
The regulation also allows the issuance of warnings and monitoring of tropical storms or hurricanes for areas with the highest concern about the potential impact of storms.
The NHC said the system is likely to become Tropical Storm Ernesto before reaching the Leeward Islands.
Currently, potential tropical storm No. 5 is located in the Central tropical Atlantic.
Due to the threat of potential tropical storm No. 5 to the Leeward Islands, as well as the territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, tropical storm warnings have been issued for Guadeloupe, St. Martin, St. Petersburg. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Antigua, Barbuda and Anguilla.
The tropical storm warning means there may be tropical storms within 2 days.
The NHC said there is a possibility of further warnings or monitoring of Puerto Rico.
The NHC said potential tropical storm No. 5 will continue moving westward as it passes through the tropical Central Atlantic before starting to turn northwest near the Caribbean Islands.
Current models show the storm will move north after approaching Puerto Rico.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has updated the latest storm forecast for the past week, forecasting an extremely severe storm season with 17-24 named storms, of which 8-13 will be hurricanes. Of these, 4-7 will become major hurricanes.
The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to November 30.
