Potential Tropical Cyclone Six expected to strengthen to a hurricane by mid-week: NHC

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The National Hurricane Center is monitoring three tropical disturbances.

Potential Tropical Cyclone Six formed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico Sunday and is expected to become Tropical Storm Francine by Monday as it moves northwest along the Gulf of Mexico coast.

The system is gradually organizing over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico and is expected to strengthen to a hurricane by mid-week, the National Hurricane Center said.

As of 8 p.m., the system was located about 320 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande and about 555 miles south of Port Arthur Texas with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.

The storm is forecast to bring life-threatening storm surges and damaging winds to the upper Texas and Louisiana coastlines. The system is not expected to impact Florida.

“Potential Tropical Cyclone Six does not have a well-defined circulation, so this wave will not be named a depression or tropical storm yet, but it does appear that it will get its act together as it moves toward the north. It will move slowly over the warm waters of the western Gulf, which will enable it to gain strength and become Tropical Storm Francine early this week,” Max Defender 8 Meteorologist Eric Stone said. “Models are in agreement with movement and landfall somewhere near the Texas/Louisiana border later in the week with remnants moving through the Tennessee Valley and the midwestern states as this will have no impact on our region.”

Other disturbances in the Eastern and Central Atlantic have a 50% chance of development over the week.

The second wave is located roughly several hundred miles southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands but is not expected to move much over the next few days. The NHC said this system could potentially interact with another tropical wave that is forecasted to move off the coast of Africa by early Monday.

Sitting off the coast of Mexico is a disturbance with a very high chance of development as it moves northwestward. The NHC predicts a tropical depression could form by the middle of the week, impacting both Texas and Mexico.

“There are two other waves further west in the Atlantic. One wave is expected to develop into a tropical depression next week with a smaller chance for development for the far eastern wave.  Models indicate that the more likely developed wave will move to the west and then take a hard turn to the north before Puerto Rico, so it looks like neither wave will impact the United States,” Stone added.

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