Budding Tropical Weather Event Takes Aim at the U.S.

While Hurricane Humberto was the talk of the tropics on Friday as the storm transitioned from a tropical storm to a major hurricane in a short period, it is the future Imelda that is the most likely to impact the U.S. Here is a look at what the heightened activity across the tropical Atlantic heading into the last weekend of September.

Southeast Put on Alert for Developing Tropical Weather Maker

The southeastern corner of the U.S. has been put on alert for the potential of a tropical storm or hurricane landfall next week. However, it is not the newly formed Hurricane Humberto that is presenting the risks. Instead, it is what the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has dubbed "potential tropical cyclone 9"  that is forecast to develop into a named feature in the days ahead.

The developing tropical weather feature will join Humberto in the Atlantic, amplifying the impacts for this part of the basin. You have to go back to 2016 when Hurricanes Nicole and Matthew were spinning 800 miles apart to find the last time that two storms of this magnitude were so close together. Forecasters are predicting that Humberto and the likely Imelda could be half that distance by the beginning of next week. How the two storms interact will determine the scope of the impacts on the U.S.

As of the late Friday update from the NHC, the future Imelda was located north of Cuba, packing maximum sustained winds of 35 mph. The threshold for a tropical storm designation is 39 mph. The tropical rainstorm is expected to whip up the wind and send heavy rain to the Turks and the Caicos in the hours ahead. The speed of intensification will influence the severity of the impacts across the Bahamas.