It has been a busy week for the north-central Caribbean with a tropical disturbance delivering heavy rain and gusty conditions to some of the region's most populated islands. While this disturbance never developed into a named tropical feature, forecasters warn that another area of the Atlantic basin bears watching in the coming days. Will this potential tropical feature impact the U.S.? Read on for the details.
What is Happening in Tropics Heading Into the Weekend
Conditions are starting to heat up across the tropics as the official start of the 2024 hurricane season is now underway. Meteorologists are keeping a close eye on an area of concern across the northwestern Caribbean that could impact the Florida peninsula by the weekend.
The start of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season officially kicked off on June 1. Although not every year sees tropical features come up in June, hurricane experts have been predicting for months that the unusually warm ocean water temperatures across much of the Atlantic Ocean could spell more activity at the start of the season. Sea-surface temperatures have been trending above the recognized threshold of 80 degrees for tropical development, bringing water readings up to levels more typical of August than June.
The disturbance that impacted the northern Caribbean early in the week moved out to the northeast a few days ago, finding less favorable conditions in the central Atlantic. These conditions cut off the supply of warm and moist air to fuel any future development of this particular distance.