The Washington Post’s latest hurricane and depression news says a large tropical depression is expected to form in the western Caribbean in the coming days. The environment in the area is currently favorable to provide energy for the depression to strengthen into a tropical storm later this week.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center is monitoring a low-pressure area in the western Caribbean. Forecasters say there is a 40 percent chance it will strengthen into a tropical storm by the weekend.
The waters in the western Caribbean remain warm, with temperatures ranging from 29-30 degrees Celsius, resulting in high ocean heat content that is the perfect fuel for hurricane formation.
The latest storm of the 2024 hurricane season is forecast to appear between November 15 and 17 in the western Caribbean, so Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala will be the first countries to be on alert for this potential storm.
The new storm comes as the season's last major storm, Hurricane Rafael, has only recently dissipated. Rafael hit Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane on November 3, then downgraded slightly and moved into the Gulf of Mexico.
Hurricane Rafael has unexpectedly strengthened again in the Gulf of Mexico, becoming a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 120 mph in the open ocean. This makes Rafael the strongest storm in the Gulf of Mexico in November since records began in 1851.
Hurricane Rafael also helped push the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season into the severe category. On average, there are 14.4 named storms per season, with an average ACE of 122.5. A severe season has an ACE of 159.6 or higher.
The arrival of Hurricane Rafael, with an ACE of 12.5 units - the fifth highest of any storm in the 2024 hurricane season - pushed this year's ACE to 159.8 units.
The ACE index for this year's Atlantic hurricane season is expected to increase further as a new storm forms later in the season.
The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season ends on November 30. The next storm name for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is Hurricane Sara.
