Meantime…Hurricane Rafael Still Churning In The Gulf…
BY: WEATHER TEAM | BocaNewsNow.com
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2024 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — The system developing off the coast of Florida remains under the watchful eyes of forecasters at the National Hurricane Center. If it develops, the system would become a tropical depression or storm in the area marked in yellow on the NHC map, above. We remind you that an oval indicates where a system may form, not necessarily a direction of travel.
Hurricane Rafael, which remains in the Gulf Saturday, is going nowhere fast. It remains a storm but seems intent on doing loops and ending up nowhere. It may end up in Mexico later next week.
Here is the National Hurricane Center update for mid-day Saturday, November 9th, 2024: Tropical Weather Outlook NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL 100 PM EST Sat Nov 9 2024. For the North Atlantic… Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico:
Active Systems: The National Hurricane Center is issuing advisories on Tropical Storm Rafael, located over the central Gulf of Mexico.
Near the Bahamas: A concentrated area of showers and thunderstorms a couple of hundred miles east of the central Bahamas is associated with a trough of low pressure. Some gradual development of this system is possible during the next day or so before it moves into unfavorable environmental conditions on Sunday. Regardless of development, locally heavy rains and gusty winds are possible as it moves generally westward across the Bahamas through Sunday. Formation chance through 48 hours…low…10 percent. Formation chance through 7 days…low…10 percent.
HURRICANE RAFAEL: Rafael is moving west-northwestward (290/5 kt), but the storm is expected to slow down and meander over the central Gulf of Mexico within weakening steering currents during the next 24-36 h. As Rafael becomes weak and shallow, the track guidance agrees on a turn toward the south and south-southwest within the low-level flow through the middle of next week. Only minor adjustments were made to the NHC track forecast, which lies near the center of the guidance envelope in good agreement with the TVCA simple consensus.
Rafael poses no direct threat to land, but swells from the storm are still contributing to an elevated rip current risk along the northern and western Gulf Coast. Also, the interaction of distant moisture from Rafael with a slow-moving front will cause heavy rainfall and potentially significant flash flooding across portions of the Upper Texas Coast into Southwest and Central Louisiana through Sunday morning.
