Possible Hurricane Nate Takes Aim At Florida, Alabama, Mississippi

TAMPA, FL — Eastern Gulf Coast residents already shell-shocked from Hurricane Irma’s run across the region last month may find a need to pull out their storm supplies once more. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are keeping close tabs on Tropical Depression 16. That storm is expected to become Hurricane Nate before making landfall over the weekend.

On its current projected path, the storm that could become Nate is expected to strengthen to tropical storm status sometime between Wednesday and Thursday. Forecasters expect the system to gain hurricane strength before it makes landfall on Sunday. By 11 a.m. Wednesday, forecasters placed a sliver of Mississippi, most of Alabama and a sizable chunk of Florida in the storm’s cone. (For more weather and local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Tampa Patch, and click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

On Wednesday morning, the depression was located about 25 miles south-southwest of San Andres Island. The system had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph and was moving northwest at 7 p.m. Tropical storm warnings had been issued in Nicaragua and Honduras. Warnings mean that tropical storm conditions are expected within the warning area. In this case, forecasters say, those conditions could arrive within 24 hours.

At present, the depression is considered a major rainmaker. Forecasters are warning of rainfall amounts of 15 to 20 inches in portions of Nicaragua with as much as 30 inches possible in some areas.

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The precise impacts the storm could have on Florida and other parts of the Gulf Coast remain to be seen, but the system serves as a reminder that hurricane season is far from over. Tropical Depression 16, in fact, formed at the end of hurricane season’s peak. Forecasters call the period between mid-August and mid-October the “season within the season.” This eight-week period “is often the most active and dangerous time for tropical cyclone activity,” according to the NOAA.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 each year. Average seasons produce about 12 named storms, of which six become hurricanes. Three of the hurricanes are generally deemed major.

Meanwhile, a trough of low pressure located over Cuba and into the Straits of Florida was continuing to dump rain. Forecasters do not expect the system to develop more, but say it could create wet conditions along southern Florida over the next few days.

Residents readying for the ongoing season can get tips and advice on the federal government’s Ready.gov website.

Graphic courtesy of the National Hurricane Center