Tropical Depression Likely to Form in Caribbean This Week

Forecasters with the National Hurricane Center say a tropical depression and perhaps a named tropical storm could form the Caribbean Sea later this week. The system is one of two tropical weather entities the Hurricane Center is monitoring as Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf South are slowly sliding down the backside of "prime time" for tropical weather.

Yesterday forecasters upgraded a tropical wave near the Azores to Tropical Depression 12. That system is forecast to remain at sea and isn't actually forecast to strengthen much more. Most tropical forecast models show the system "fizzling" out in the next three days and it should not be a threat to any major landmass.

The other tropical wave which is already bringing gale force winds to the Windward Islands and portions of South America is forecast to strengthen as it moves westward. Forecasters have given the system an 80% probability of becoming at least a depression in the coming days. Many tropical models show it actually getting stronger.

The forecast projections for this system do keep it in the Southern Caribbean Sea through the weekend. The best guess on a track for the system is a continued western movement which will eventually bring the system onshore in Honduras or Nicaragua later this weekend or early next week.

The Gulf of Mexico remains quiet but October storms have occurred, earlier this week many residents of South Louisiana marked the 20th anniversary of the landfall of Hurricane Lili. That storm made landfall in Vermilion Parish and moved northward through Acadia Parish back in 2002.