After a ferocious start and recent weeks of calm, the Atlantic hurricane basin has sprung back to life with a new tropical storm forming Friday night and strengthening Saturday morning, and three other tropical disturbances brewing.
The new tropical storm is named Gamma — the third letter of the Greek alphabet, which is being used because the National Hurricane Center ran out of traditional names on its list of storms that had been established for the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.
This is only the second season ever that Greek names have had to be used. In 2005, all 21 traditional names were used and six more storms developed, each getting names from the Greek alphabet.
Status of Tropical Storm Gamma
As of early Saturday morning, Tropical Storm Gamma was spinning about 40 miles southeast of Tulum, Mexico — which is on the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula — with top sustained winds of 65 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm was moving northwest at a pace of about 9 mph, and forecasters expect Gamma’s center to move inland over the eastern Yucatan Peninsula later Saturday and drift close to the north coast of the peninsula on Sunday.
A new tropical storm has formed in the Atlantic hurricane basin, and forecasters are monitoring three tropical waves that have the potential to develop into tropical depressions.National Hurricane Center
“A turn toward the north is expected on Sunday, followed by a turn to the west or west-southwest Sunday night or Monday,” the National Hurricane Center said in a storm advisory Saturday morning. “Some slight additional strengthening is possible before Gamma makes landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula today. After landfall, some weakening is expected.”
Gamma is expected to drop as much as 4 to 8 inches on parts of the Yucatan Peninsula and far western Cuba, with some isolated pockets of 10 to 15 inches across the northeastern portion of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, according to the National Hurricane Center, which says that much rain could produce life-threatening flash floods.
“A separate area of significant rain is expected to develop well away from the center in the Mexican states of Campeche, Tabasco, and northern Chiapas with rainfall of 8 to 12 inches and isolated maximum amounts of 20 inches,” the center said. “This rainfall may produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides. Rainfall of 1 to 3 inches with maximum amounts of 5 inches is expected in the Bay Islands of Honduras and over the Cayman Islands.”
Forecasters from AccuWeather say a large dome of high pressure over the central and eastern United States will help keep Tropical Storm Gamma away from the U.S.
Other storm systems brewing
Forecasters are also watching a tropical wave that has been generating widespread showers and thunderstorms in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with gusty winds and heavy rain affecting parts of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Lesser Antilles, the ABC Islands and some coastal areas of Colombia and Venezuela.
“Environmental conditions are expected to become a little more conducive for development, and a tropical depression could form next week while the system moves westward or west-northwestward at about 15 mph across the central and western Caribbean Sea and then into the southern Gulf of Mexico,” the National Hurricane Center said.
Forecasters say the tropical wave has only a 20% chance of developing into a tropical depression or tropical storm in the next two days but a 50% chance in five days. If this system reaches tropical storm status, it would be named Delta.
After using up all 21 names that were on the National Hurricane Center's official list of storm names for 2020, the agency is now using the Greek alphabet to name new storms that form in the Atlantic.AccuWeather
Two other tropical waves are currently being watched in the central tropical Atlantic. As of now, one of those waves has only a 20% chance of forming into a tropical depression in the next five days, and the other one has just a 10% chance.
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Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com.
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Tropical Storm Gamma forms as Atlantic starts heating up again - NJ.com
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