All eyes on are Florida after new hurricane models showed that a storm brewing in the Caribbean is likely to batter the state next week.
Sara, currently a tropical rainstorm, is gaining strength as it moves closer to the Gulf of Mexico, where it will travel between Cuba and Mexico on Monday before turning sharply north the following day.
The system could evolve into a hurricane by 7pm ET on Thursday, reaching a Category 3 status two days later and hitting Florida Wednesday next week.
Meteorologists warned that Hurricane Sara would unleash significant downpours, leading to flash flooding, strong wind gusts that may also pose a significant risk to lives and property.
AccuWeather predicted that the track of the storm would provide it fuel to become a potentially significant hurricane,’ impacting the Florida Keys and the southern part of the Florida Peninsula.’
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is also monitoring Sara, reporting Wednesday that there is a 90 percent chance of it becoming a low-pressure system with winds up to 39 miles per hour within the next 48 hours.
‘An Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft is scheduled to investigate this system later today,’ the agency said.
Meteorologists warn all residents in the central and eastern Gulf coast to closely monitor the storm’s progression, noting that it’s still too early to determine where the storm will end up.
AccuWeather meteorologist Alex DaSilva said: ‘There are multiple scenarios with the feature in the Caribbean that are tied to the speed of development and track early on that could affect land areas with landfall and direct impacts later on.
‘Not only does this have a high chance of becoming a hurricane by the end of this week, but it may become a major hurricane very quickly – this weekend.’
The NHC reported that Sara will steadily intensify as it ‘continues to produce a large area of showers and thunderstorms’ in the Caribbean Sea.
Experts say areas of south Florida will likely see several inches of rain which could cause localized flooding next week.
The Caribbean Sea has been a hotspot for tropical storm and hurricane development this season due to its warmer-than-average temperatures that extends 300 to 400 feet below the ocean’s surface.
‘This can act like rocket fuel for developing tropical storms or hurricanes,’ said DaSilva.
A combination of warm waters and low wind sheer over the Gulf of Mexico creates the perfect storm for a rapidly developing weather event.
And on top of those facts, Sara is likely to take the same path as Hurricane Rafael, collecting the remnants as fuel.
The storm could take advantage of ‘some unusually conducive late-season conditions’ to strengthen into the early part of next week,’ wrote Michael Lowry, a hurricane specialist and storm surge expert with WPLG-TV, on his blog.
Meteorologists are monitoring several scenarios of the storm’s path, but AccuWeather noted one for sure shows Sara hitting Florida ‘significant impacts next week.’
That means the Sunshine State will see a fourth hurricane in the 2024 season.
‘Should the feature become a hurricane, it would be the 12th of the season, which is a testament to the supercharged nature of the season, where the historical average is seven hurricanes,’ DaSilva said.
However, other predictions show a path into Central America or southeastern Mexico later this week into next week.
This potential route shows Sarah diminishing over the region or possibly begin a turn toward the Gulf of Mexico and losing wind intensity, meaning it ‘may not have time to regain hurricane strength before any approach the Florida Peninsula.’
