Eye on the Tropics

Tropical Storm Humberto forms east of the central Bahamas, track to stay away from Florida

Tropical Storm Humberto has formed east of the central Bahamas with winds of 40 mph.

Chief meteorologist Tom Terry said the storm will be "staying more than 150 miles off our east coast this weekend. Tropical Storm watches have been lifted along our beaches."

Terry said the storm is still expected to stay off of Florida's coastline.

Choppy waves and gusty showers are expected in Central Florida on Saturday, Terry said.

Click here to watch Terry's updated forecast live on Channel 9 Eyewitness News.

In preparation for the system's approach to the state, tropical storm watches have been issued from the Volusia/Brevard county lines south to Jupiter.

Watch Channel 9 certified meteorologist Brian Shields explain the system's track below:

Watch below to find out how Volusia County is preparing for the storm:

Certified meteorologist Brian Shields said if the system does continue east off of Florida's coast, it means Central Florida will have to deal with fast-moving showers, breezy conditions, high seas and possible beach erosion along the coast. But the weekend overall, he said, would not be a washout.

He said if the track wiggles closer to the state, the system could make for a wetter, windier weekend. As of now, the forecast calls for a 50 percent chance of rain through Sunday.

11 AM UPDATE: This is what we talked about earlier. The doom-and-gloom reports of a complete weekend washout are NOT...

Posted by Brian Shields, WFTV on Friday, September 13, 2019
What’s next in the tropics?

Models and weather patterns are giving a hint to an uptick for the possibility of tropical development during the last week of September into the first week of October. The Madden-Julian Oscillation is an energy wave that travels around the globe toward the east. This planetary wave propagates sinking or rising air.

Tropical systems need rising air to keep their natural cycle. Models show rising air increasing across the Atlantic basin by the end of September. This is just an ingredient needed in the tropical recipe. We will have to wait to see where the tropical waves set up, the water conditions where they travel, Saharan dust, dry air and wind shear in a specific area. Stay informed and keep your hurricane plans handy. During this time of the year, there are several tropical waves emerging from Africa. 

We will continue to monitor and bring you the latest on WFTV.com, Eyewitness News and on our free WFTV Weather app.

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