MIAMI.- This Friday, tropical depression 9 formed in the Caribbean, which according to the forecast of the National Hurricane Center will strengthen during its advance through the Caribbean Sea and could become tropical storm Hermine in the next few hours.
Gradual strengthening is forecast during the day and it is expected to become a tropical storm by tonight.
According to him latest bulletin from the National Hurricane Center (NHC, for its acronym in English) published at 11:00 am on Friday, the system was located about 515 miles from Kingston, Jamaica and 1015 miles from Havana, Cuba.
The tropical depression has top winds of 35 mph and is moving west-northwest at a speed of 14 mph, according to the NHC.
Authorities in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands must closely monitor the evolution of the tropical depression.
For the next few hours, rains are expected in Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, northern Venezuela and Colombia, and with greater intensity in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Also the south of Haiti and the Dominican Republic could experience rain. No advisories and watches have been issued at this time.
After becoming a tropical storm late Friday, according to the NHC, more significant intensification is expected on Sunday and Monday.
Our meteorologist Pedro Montoro explains from the virtual laboratory the step by step of the formation and intensification of a hurricane.
TRAJECTORY CONE OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION 9
The models are very consistent and show that during the next five days, the development of this system will take it through the Caribbean over the southwestern coast of Cuba until it reaches southern Florida.
According to the NHC track cone, the depression could become a tropical storm in the next few hours and then a hurricane by Monday or Tuesday. On Tuesday it could pass through western Cuba and head toward southern Florida.
It’s too early to tell where this system will go, but all of South Florida will need to monitor it in the coming days.
Even if the system didn’t pass Florida, we could still be close enough to increase moisture on the eastern side of the system. At this point, Key West, the west coast of Florida and the entire Gulf Coast will have to keep a close eye on the tropical depression, which if it evolved into a tropical storm, would be called Hermine.