Meteorologists are currently tracking two more storms brewing over the Atlantic Ocean as Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida. Hurricane Leslie was upgraded to a Category 1 Wednesday evening after gaining strength in the east-northeast region of the Caribbean.
Meanwhile, a non-tropical area of low pressure system could soon be named Nadine if it produces enough wind speeds. The two come as Hurricane Milton is hours away from landfall in Florida and a week after Helene left a path of devastation in North Carolina.
Neither storm is expected to hit the US mainland. Nadine would mark the 14th named storm of the 2024 hurricane season. NHC is closely monitoring potential tropical storm Invest 93L, which has brought rain and winds as Milton barrels into the area, and Hurricane Leslie which is moving up toward Europe. ‘Of those three, Milton is by far the most dangerous and will be the most dangerous,’ said Tom Kines, Accuweather senior meteorologist told DailyMail.com.
Invest 93L is a non-tropical area of low pressure located about 650 miles off the eastern Florida coast with a path northeastward to east-northeastward. The FOX Forecast Center said the showers off the coast of Florida being produced by Invest 93L is an area to watch. ‘As it moves off to the north and northeast, it is not likely to gain strength but we are watching its close proximity to the southeast coast,’ the meteorologists explained.
Kines said that the system’s wind and pressure would need to change dramatically to impact states along the East Coast, but the shift would not be impossible. ‘I don’t want to say it’s a zero percent chance,’ Kines said. ‘But because, you know, Mother Nature, she’s got ways to throw us curve balls. It’s unpredictable, but I just don’t see.’
The potential tropical storm is labeled ‘invest’ be cause it a weather system that is being monitored by a tropical cyclone forecast center for potential tropical cyclone development. And the ‘L’ indicates it is a low pressure system. But Invest 93L could develop into Tropical Storm Nadine today and is only traveling 15 miles per hour as it moves away from Florida. Leslie is currently 1,015 miles east-northeast of the Northern Leeward Islands with maximum sustained wind of 85 miles per hour as it moves 10 miles per hour to the northwest. ‘Some additional strengthening is likely today and tonight, followed by weakening through early next week,’ NHC shared in a statement.
While Kines noted that ‘Nadine’ and Leslie are non-factors, Milton is on a path to hit Florida. The storm is packing winds up to 155 miles per hour and is currently centered 250 miles southwest of Tampa, moving northeast at 16 mph. Experts have predicted that Milton could inundate Florida with 15 feet of storm surge, 155 mile-per-hour winds and up to 18 inches of rain. ‘Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida,’ the NHC said on Wednesday.
The impending storm has triggered the largest evacuation effort since Hurricane Irma battered the state in 2017, with 5.5 million people urged to leave Florida’s west coast as soon as possible. Hurricane Milton comes as Floridians are still recovering from the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in along Florida’s Gulf Coast before moving north, causing widespread damage across the southeastern US. Helene killed at least 225 people, 19 of whom were in Florida. Hundreds of victims are still missing.
‘Unfortunately, some of the Helene victims are in the path of this storm,’ Governor Ron DeSantis said during a Monday press conference. ‘A lot of these homeowners are in recovery mode,’ Florida State Climatologist David Zierden previously told DailyMail.com. ‘They probably didn’t have the time or the resources to prepare for this one as much as they normally would,’ he added.
This could compound the damage of this oncoming storm, especially as debris from Helene gets swept up in the storm surge from Milton, Zierden said. Over 12,000 cubic yards of debris have been removed in Helene-affected areas of Florida in less than two days, officials have said.
Source: Dailymail
