The New York Times' latest hurricane report says Tropical Storm Kirk formed near the Cape Verde Islands. Kirk is expected to strengthen into a hurricane this week.
Tropical Storm Kirk formed on September 30, becoming the 11th storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and the fourth storm in the past week, following Hurricane Helene.
Hurricane Helene has killed more than 100 people in the US, causing havoc from Florida to North Carolina.
Hurricane Kirk is still far out in the Atlantic Ocean, but forecasters at the US National Hurricane Center predict the latest storm could strengthen into a severe hurricane in the next few days.
This year's hurricane season was forecast to be an especially fierce one, but there was a lull that lasted through most of August and September.
However, the course of the Atlantic hurricane season changed dramatically last week, when Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on the night of September 26 with strong winds and devastating force at the intensity of a Category 4 storm.
Following Hurricane Helene's strike on the US, Hurricane Isaac and Tropical Storm Joyce also formed within days of each other but neither threatened the US mainland.
Hurricane Kirk has the potential to become a major and intense hurricane, possibly a Category 4, by the end of the week, hurricane forecaster Judson Jones told the New York Times. Kirk is expected to remain a Category 4 hurricane for several days. But the latest Atlantic storm is not a threat to land in the near future.
According to the latest hurricane report from USA Today, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are tracking five separate systems in the Atlantic, including newly formed Tropical Storm Kirk. However, only one of the five storms and depressions has the potential to actually impact the U.S. mainland, especially the Southeast.
The storm center says a depression that could impact weather in the United States is located in the Caribbean Sea. A “broad area of low pressure” over the ocean is producing showers and thunderstorms. Conditions are favorable for the depression to strengthen. The depression is expected to become a tropical depression in the next few days as it moves south in the Gulf of Mexico or northwest in the Caribbean.
This low pressure will strengthen more slowly than expected, with the possibility of strengthening in the second half of this week, according to the center's forecast on the morning of September 30. The center said that this low pressure has a 40% chance of strengthening into a tropical depression in the next 7 days.
AccuWeather forecasters say the biggest threat from this tropical depression is heavy rain, with rainfall potential across much of Florida.
Hurricane Kirk has maximum sustained winds of nearly 72 km/h with higher gusts and is "expected to gradually strengthen" into a hurricane on the night of October 1 or October 2.
Current hurricane forecast models show Hurricane Kirk heading into the mid-Atlantic, away from the US mainland.
