AccuWeather forecasters say a hurricane could be moving from the Gulf of Mexico into the Florida coast by the final days of August.
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00:00 been tracking the tropics, Melissa, for quite some time that we have. We've got
00:04 a disturbance in the tropics, especially working its way through the Caribbean.
00:08 And this is going to be impactful, possibly for the floor sunshine state.
00:12 So Florida as we go through time, but before we talk about some of the
00:16 storms, then in the northeast to we want to continue to focus in on this
00:19 tropical threat, which is expected to arrive early next week. Let's take
00:23 things over to chief meteorologist John Porter, who has the breaking news.
00:28 Well, good afternoon. That's right. Accuweather hurricane experts have just
00:32 issued our first track, our first window of movement exclusively here
00:37 from Accuweather before any other source on this developing tropical
00:41 rainstorm. And in fact, what we're dealing with is it looks like it
00:46 doesn't look too ominous right now. It's a cluster of showers and
00:49 thunderstorms off the Yucatan Peninsula in western Cuba
00:52 slowly drift to the north and conditions will start to become more
00:57 favorable for this storm to gain wind intensity and intensify as we head into
01:03 later in this weekend and into early next week. So here's the setup, and
01:08 here's why we're concerned about Florida and other parts of the
01:11 southeastern United States. First, it's going to be encountering very warm
01:15 water in the Gulf of Mexico. Water temperatures between 86 and 88 degrees
01:19 Fahrenheit prime for a tropical storm to develop. And in fact, the water is
01:23 above nor it's above historic average in terms of the temperature that water
01:28 by some 2 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit. So right now we're gonna have we have
01:31 strong winds that are going to sort of put a cap on how how intense this
01:37 system can get over the weekend. So this is going to be a slow developing
01:41 system by the time later Sunday comes around. The storm is still going to be
01:44 a rainstorm, not very intense from a wind intensity perspective off the
01:48 coast of the Yucatan. But that wind shear those unfavorable winds in the
01:53 atmosphere will start to relax here into early next week, and that's why
01:57 the Gulf of Mexico is going to be open for business here as the storm
02:01 intensifies as it moves to the north in that warm water and a more favorable
02:05 atmospheric setup here. And again, a storm is going to be tracking toward
02:09 Florida. The key to this forecast is going to be a couple of things. First,
02:13 how Franklin evolves in the open Atlantic. So we're gonna be watching
02:16 that very closely, and our hurricane experts are also going to be watching
02:20 this dip in the jet stream coming down from the Great Lakes. Those steering
02:24 winds will start to draw the storm to the north, and that's why we think
02:28 Florida or portions of the Gulf Coast could be where this storm is headed as
02:35 we head into early to mid next week. So here it is. This is the exclusive
02:39 window of movement from our Accuweather hurricane experts. You
02:42 notice lots of areas of low pressure off the Mexican coast here. That means
02:46 the storm is not gonna be moving very much, as we mentioned through Monday
02:49 morning. But then it's going to start to accelerate here as it heads off to
02:53 the north and east and notice a tropical storm by eight a.m. Tuesday,
02:57 and we're forecasting a category one hurricane to be in the Gulf in the
03:02 eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico by eight a.m. Wednesday. So it looks like
03:06 that would be the threat here on Tuesday night into the first part of
03:09 Wednesday for potential landfall in Florida. But I want to stress there's
03:14 plenty of time here for to prepare to be thinking about your hurricane action
03:18 plans and don't focus on the central center track of the storm. Look at the
03:23 window of movement on the left and right side. That indicates the
03:25 potential area that the center of the storm could be. And these storms,
03:29 tropical storms and hurricanes have impacts over a broad area. So anywhere
03:33 along the eastern Gulf of Mexico, you want to pay attention to this and also
03:37 further north because the storm is going to be drawn up into portions of
03:41 Georgia and the Carolinas as a tropical storm in the middle of next week and
03:46 with a lingering front in the area, that could be the recipe for some
03:49 significant flooding. So flooding, rain and wind will be a concern and
03:54 potentially some storm surge concerns as well. Stay tuned. Accuweather
03:57 frequently here over the coming days. We'll keep you updated on air and on
04:01 the Accuweather app and Accuweather dot com.
04:03 All right, Accuweather chief meteorologist John Porter. They're
04:07 sharing with us about that rain, especially through Georgia, South
04:10 Carolina. They haven't had much this year, so I can see where that flooding
04:13 threat would be a big factor.