The potential exists for a new problem in the tropics: Patty. The National Hurricane Center is tracking a disturbance in the Atlantic that is likely to become the season’s next tropical or subtropical storm. Once it becomes a named storm, it’ll be called Patty.
According to the National Hurricane Center, shower activity has increased and is become a little better organized today in association with a tropical wave located about 350 miles east-southeast of the Leeward Islands. According to the latest Tropical Outlook issued by the National Hurricane Center, environmental conditions are forecast to gradually become more conducive for development by Tuesday, and a tropical or subtropical cyclone is expected to form by the middle of the week. The system will move westward to west-northwestward for the next few days, passing near or north of the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and the southeastern Bahamas.
Another storm system moving across the eastern United States could produce snow across portions of the Mid Atlantic during the middle to later part of the upcoming week; while that system may put down the first snowfall for some for the season, it should also help protect the East Coast from being impacted directly by Patty’s future progress.
Nevertheless, residents along the U.S. coastlines should remember that hurricane season continues through to the end of the month and possible direct impacts from this system or others that have yet to form are always a possibility at this time of the year.
