USA Today's latest hurricane news says that less than a week after Hurricane Milton ripped through Florida, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are tracking a low-pressure area that could potentially strengthen into the newest hurricane of the 2024 hurricane season: Hurricane Nadine.
This low pressure area west of the Cape Verde Islands in the Atlantic Ocean has a 60% chance of strengthening into a tropical depression next week.
The low pressure area is AL94, said senior forecaster Anthony Reynes of the National Weather Service in Miami. He called the closely tracked system a "potential storm."
As AL94 moves westward, warmer ocean waters and environmental conditions could create favorable conditions for the system to strengthen into a tropical depression.
The latest storm forecast from the US National Hurricane Center says AL94 has a 10% chance of strengthening into a tropical depression in the next 48 hours and a 60% chance of strengthening in the next 7 days.
The National Hurricane Center forecasts that AL94 will move west or west-southwest in the coming days. By the weekend, as it moves west-northwest and nears the Leeward Islands, about 563 km southeast of Puerto Rico, AL94 could strengthen into a tropical depression.
In addition to AL94, forecasters in the United States are monitoring another area that could potentially become a hurricane. AccuWeather forecasters believe there is a risk of a moderate low pressure area forming in the western Caribbean between October 17 and 19.
"A large low pressure area is likely to form in the southwestern Caribbean Sea by mid- to late this week," the US National Hurricane Center said on the afternoon of October 14. The Center forecasts that this low pressure area has a 20% chance of forming in the next 7 days.
The potential storm in the Caribbean Sea "has one scenario where it moves west, across Central America and southern Mexico and unfortunately the other scenario where it heads toward Florida," AccuWeather hurricane expert Alex DaSilva said.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, but is typically most active from August to October.
The US National Hurricane Center estimates that there have been about 42 Category 5 hurricanes - the highest level - in the Atlantic basin since 1924, with the most recent being Hurricane Milton making landfall on the west coast of Florida.
The 2024 hurricane season alone will see three storms make landfall on the west coast of Florida, USA. Hurricane Debby will make landfall as a Category 1 storm at around 7:00 a.m. on August 5, 2024, near Steinhatchee in the Big Bend region of Florida.
Next, Hurricane Helene made landfall in the US mainland as a Category 4 storm at around 11:10 p.m. on September 26, about 64 km north of where Debby made landfall.
Less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated several states, including Florida, Hurricane Milton emerged, swinging between Category 4 and Category 5 as it approached Florida. Milton made landfall near Siesta Key at around 8:30 p.m. on October 9 as a Category 3 storm.
