The latest storm news from the New York Times said that 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, the 11th storm of this year's Atlantic hurricane season and the fourth of the past week, starting from Hurricane Helene.
Hurricane Helene has claimed the lives of more than 100 people in the US, causing devastation from Florida to North Carolina.
Kirk is still far out in the Atlantic, but forecasters at the National Hurricane Center predict the latest storm could strengthen into a severe hurricane in the next few days.
This year's hurricane season is expected to be an especially intense one, but there has been a lull that has lasted through most of August and September.
However, the course of the Atlantic hurricane season has changed dramatically since last week, when Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on the night of September 26 with strong winds and terrible devastation as a Category 4 storm.
Following Helene's attack on the US, Isaac and Tropical Storm Joyce also formed within days of each other but did not threaten the US mainland.
Kirk has the potential to become a major and intense hurricane, possibly a Category 4, by the end of the week, forecaster Judson Jones told the New York Times. Kirk is expected to maintain the intensity of a Category 4 storm for many days. However, the latest storm in the Atlantic is not a threat to land in the near future.
According to the latest hurricane report from USA Today, forecasters at the US National Hurricane Center are monitoring five separate systems in the Atlantic, including newly formed Tropical Storm Kirk. However, only one of the five storms and depressions is truly likely to impact the US mainland, especially the southeast.
The hurricane center said the low pressure system that could impact US weather is located in the Caribbean Sea. A "wide area of low pressure" at sea is causing showers and thunderstorms. Environmental conditions are favorable for this low pressure to strengthen. The depression is expected to strengthen into a tropical depression in the next few days as it moves in the southern Gulf of Mexico or northwest of the Caribbean Sea.
The depression will strengthen more slowly than expected, with a chance of strengthening in the second half of this week, according to the center's forecast on the morning of September 30. The center said the low has a 40% chance of strengthening into a tropical depression in the next 7 days.
AccuWeather forecasters say the biggest risk from the tropical depression is heavy rain, with rainfall expected across Florida.
Kirk has maximum sustained winds of nearly 45 mph with higher gusts and is expected to gradually strengthen to a hurricane overnight on October 1 or October 2.
Current hurricane models show Kirk heading into the mid- Atlantic, away from the U.S. mainland.
