Although chances are low that it will develop into a damaging storm, a system in the northwestern Caribbean Sea got the National Hurricane Center’s attention Wednesday.
The system is moving west-northwest near the Yucatan peninsula and will reach the southern Gulf of Mexico by Friday.
The disturbance is a broad area of low pressure located between Grand Cayman and Jamaica. Upper-level winds are not tropical friendly for development, giving this area of disorganized showers a 10% chance of slowly becoming a tropical depression in the next five days.
Meteorologists were tracking a second area of disturbance Tuesday in the Atlantic but its chances of development dropped to zero before it fizzled out, the NHC said.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Lorenzo downgraded to an extratropical storm after passing near the western Azores archipelago chain Wednesday morning, the NHC said.
Minimal damage was reported by the Portuguese government save fallen trees and downed power lines, The Associated Press reported.
The storm has maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, as well as hurricane-force winds reaching out 150 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extending 390 miles.
The center of the massive storm is projected to make landfall in Ireland by late Thursday. Lorenzo is expected to dissipate over the weekend as it travels to Europe.
The storm continues to send massive swells across the North Atlantic.
“A high risk of dangerous and life-threatening rip currents will be present at all east central Florida beaches today due to long period swell from Hurricane Lorenzo,” forecasters with the National Weather Service in Melbourne said Wednesday. “Beachgoers are urged to be extremely cautious at the coast today and to avoid entering the surf, no matter what skill of swimmer.”
Source: Orlando Sentinel