Forecasters are tracking a potential storm that could form in the Caribbean this week
MIAMI — A new storm could form in the Caribbean this week, and forecasters have been steadily increasing the odds it will strengthen.
As of 8 a.m Monday., the National Hurricane Center gave the newest tropical depression a 40% chance of developing into a tropical depression in the next seven days, with no chance of formation in the next two days.
Forecasters said it could form somewhere south of Jamaica and Haiti and drift “northward or northeastward over the southwestern and central Caribbean Sea.”
Long-range computer models, which are less reliable before a storm forms and has a defined center, appear to have agreed upon a northern movement in the first few days of the potential storm’s life, but they diverge drastically after that.
The location — and timing — of the would-be storm’s formation matters, because conditions could be anywhere from hostile to favorable as it moves through the Caribbean Sea.
“There is just no way of knowing an end game solution for a nonexistent entity at this time. Stay tuned,” wrote Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel on X.
The next name on the list is Patty.