News
Rare Tropical Cyclone to Impact Southern Gulf Coast
By: Blake Hardesty
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A low pressure system centered in the southern United States is moving in an unusual direction and setting up the formation of a rare tropical cyclone.
The low pressure system has caught the attention of the National Hurricane Center (NHC). According to the NHC, this low pressure system is forecast to move southward towards the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico where it is expected to intensify.
Typically, tropical cyclones form from a cluster of storms coming off the coast of Africa then travel and intensify across the Atlantic. Both the location of this particular storm and the direction it is traveling is very uncommon.
Lauren Nash, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Tallahassee office told Tallahassee.com that, “It’s very rare, and kind of hard to explain.”
The NHC is giving this low pressure system a 70% chance of developing into a tropical depression within 48 hours. The NHC will be dispatching their hurricane hunters Wednesday to investigate, if needed. A tropical depression has wind speeds of around 38 MPH.
Forecasters say that this system will be bringing not only heavy rain to the Gulf Coast region but strong winds and storm surges as well.