Rainy and windy weather conditions in South Florida are coming from a concentrated area of showers and thunderstorms rolling over southeastern Florida, the Bahamas and the Straits of Florida.
The disturbance is forecast to pass by South Florida, loop over Cuba and then come back up to at least the Florida Keys between Thursday and Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center. The system could start to develop on Thursday or Friday as it approaches the Keys and South Florida, though it had a low 10% chance of doing so.
The disturbance will keep drenching South Florida with heavy rains and will do the same to western Cuba on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Tropical Storm Beta made landfall about 5 miles north of Port O’Connor, Texas, late Monday, making it the “ninth named storm to landfall in the mainland U.S. in the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, tying a record that had stood for over 100 years,” according to The Weather Channel.
“That tied the 1916 season, which previously stood as the lone record-holder for the most number of mainland U.S. landfalls in any season,” according to Phil Klotzbach, a tropical scientist at Colorado State University.
Beta, which had weakened to a tropical depression as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, also marked the first time a Greek-letter named storm made landfall in the continental U.S., according to the Associated Press.
A slow-moving Beta is forecast to stall along the coast or just inland for between 12 and 24 hours, dumping up to a foot of rain to the middle and upper Texas coast, with isolated storm totals up to 20 inches, forecasters say.
“We currently have both storm surge and rainfall going on right now,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Amaryllis Cotto in Galveston.
Cotto estimated that six to 12 inches of rain had fallen as of early Tuesday. Dangerous flash flooding is expected through Wednesday, he said.
Storm surge up to 4 feet could occur in the Galveston and Beaumont areas through Wednesday morning, forecasters said. Flash flooding could also occur in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
On its latest forecast track, the center of Beta will move inland over southeastern Texas through Wednesday and then over Louisiana and Mississippi Wednesday night through Friday.
In addition to posing a flood threat for Texas, Beta could bring up to five inches of rain to New Orleans. Up to 8 inches is forecast in Morgan City, La., according to the Weather Channel. Flash flooding could occur in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, forecasters said.
Beta formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, right after Tropical Storm Wilfred and Subtropical Storm Alpha in the Atlantic, bringing the hyperactive 2020 hurricane season up to 23 named storms.
It’s just the second time in history that forecasters have had to turn to the Greek alphabet for storm names.
As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, Beta was 15 miles east-northeast of Victoria, Texas, which is about 172 miles southwest of Galveston and 85 miles north of Corpus Christi. It had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph and was inching northwest at 2 mph.
Tropical storm warnings and storm surge warnings for the area were discontinued as of 11 a.m. Tuesday.
Hurricane Teddy skirted Bermuda’s eastern side on Monday, the National Hurricane Center said.
After passing Bermuda, the storm grew stronger and larger. Life-threatening rip currents are expected along western Atlantic beaches for the next few days, the hurricane center said.
A tropical storm warning has also been issued for the south coast of Nova Scotia from Digby to Meat Cove, in Canada. A tropical storm watch is in effect for Nova Scotia from Meat Cove to Tidnish, as well as other parts of Nova Scotia, Quebec, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island.
Teddy was expected to approach Nova Scotia Wednesday and move near or over Newfoundland by Wednesday night and east of Labrador by Thursday.
At 11 a.m. Tuesday, Teddy was about 345 miles south of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Teddy picked up speed and is traveling north-northwest at 16 mph with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph.
Teddy’s hurricane-force winds extend up to 140 miles from the center and its tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 415 miles.
“Teddy is an extremely large hurricane,” the National Hurricane Center said in the 11 a.m. Tuesday public advisory.
Former Hurricane Paulette regenerated into a tropical storm about 335 miles southeast of the Azores late Monday, the hurricane center said. It does not pose a threat to land at this time.
Paulette had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and was traveling east-northeast at 14 mph, the hurricane center in its 11 a.m. advisory.
After Beta, the next storms will be Gamma and Delta and Epsilon. This has only ever happened once before — during the record-shattering 2005 hurricane season that produced Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma. In that year, Tropical Storm Zeta formed on Dec. 30, the 28th named storm.
Hurricane season runs from June 1-Nov. 30. So far this season, there have been eight hurricanes and 23 tropical storms.
Laura was the season’s first major hurricane, making landfall in Cameron, La., as a Category 4 on Aug. 27. Hanna, Isaias and Marco were Category 1 hurricanes that made landfall in Padre Island, Texas; Ocean Isle Beach, N.C.; and at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Hurricane Nana impacted Central America.
The tropical weather experts at Colorado State University predicted that 2020 could possibly be the second-busiest season on record, behind only 2005, the year that produced Katrina and Wilma. In August, the federal government issued an updated forecast for the season, predicting as many as 25 storms, which is more than the agency has ever forecast.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
