Major hurricane forecast to develop in the Caribbean; increasing risk of impacts in Florida

The end of Hurricane Season is just weeks away and we could go out with one last major hurricane. Weather experts are warning that there is a major hurricane threat in the Caribbean Sea that could bring dangerous impacts to Central America this week and could take a northeastward turn early next week and potentially bring impacts to parts of Cuba and Florida.  

“All of the conditions are coming together to allow this storm to intensify rapidly. There is plenty of moisture, low wind shear and very warm water temperatures. We don’t see any obstacles that could prevent this storm from exploding into a major hurricane,” AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva said. “This storm will likely become our 12^th hurricane of the season, which is a testament to the supercharged nature of the season. The historical average is seven hurricanes.” 

Potentially, this could be the fourth hurricane to make landfall in Florida this year. This year is now tied with 1871, 1886, 1964, 2004 and 2005 for the most Florida landfalling hurricanes on record in a single season with three, according to Philip Klotzbach, meteorologist at Colorado State University. 

Again, these are early forecasts but the National Hurricane Center is giving this system now called Invest 99-L a 90% chance of developing into a hurricane in the next 48 hours and 90% chance of developing in the next seen days.

According to weather experts it is still way too early to know the strength and the exact path, but this is something to monitor.

“These warm waters will act like high-octane rocket fuel for this brewing storm,” said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter. “We want everyone in Florida to closely monitor forecast updates.”