According to the National Hurricane Center, Tropical Depression Ten has developed near the Yucatan Peninsula in the western Caribbean. By Tuesday afternoon, it could intensify into a hurricane and make landfall in Gulf Coast Florida as early as Wednesday.
Tropical Depression will make landfall in Gulf Coast Florida as early as Wednesday (Photo: Bay News 9)
Tropical Depression in Gulf Coast Florida
From Tulum to Rio Lagartos in Mexico, including Cozumel, a tropical storm warning has been issued apart from Gulf Coast Florida. Additionally, a tropical storm watch has been issued for the westernmost provinces of Cuba, Pinar del Rio, and Isle of Youth.
In anticipation of the expected bad weather, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order on Saturday declaring a state of emergency in 33 counties. In a news release announcing the executive order, it is stated that “the Governor and the Gulf Coast Florida Division of Emergency Management are taking timely precautions to ensure Florida’s communities, infrastructure, and resources are prepared, including those communities that are still recovering following Hurricane Ian.”
On Sunday, the depression is predicted to pass across the Yucatan Channel and intensify into a tropical storm. The system is expected to hit the Gulf of Mexico on Monday and continue toward the Gulf Coast Florida. By Tuesday afternoon, it might intensify into a hurricane, and by Wednesday, it might reach the western coast of the Florida Peninsula.
Gulf Coast Florida Weather Updates
The NHC warns that there is “significant uncertainty in 3-4 day intensity predictions and [the public] are strongly advised to monitor change” for the forecast cone, which runs from Tampa Bay to Panama City.
It’s still too early to predict how quickly or how strong this system might become. However, it will be moving through the hottest seas in the entire Atlantic basin before landfall in Gulf Coast Florida, which will provide a significant amount of energy for a storm to grow. Extremely warm water can give storms the fuel they need to strengthen and occasionally intensify quickly.
The role of warm water is not the sole one. Additionally, the upper-level winds of this tropical system must cooperate. A growing storm can be torn apart by strong wind shear, which is the wind’s change in direction or speed with altitude in Gulf Coast Florida.
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