Here They Come, Where Will They Go?

As the remains of Gordon stagger slowly into Missouri tonight, there are 4 other areas NHC is following out in the Atlantic.  Going west to east, we’ll start with a weak swirl near Bermuda that NHC says has a slight chance (20%) for development.  Tropical Storm Florence,  which less than 2 days ago was a Cat. 4 Hurricane is out over the central Atlantic.  She continues on a westerly course that will bring her back over warmer waters and NHC is projecting her to again reach CAT 3 or 4 status.  Most computer models have this storm impacting the east coast somewhere between South Carolina to Long Island for late next week.  She will not be our problem.  Next is Tropical Depression 9 that is likely to become Isaac tomorrow or Sunday.  He is supposed to take a more southerly track towards the Caribbean which is more concerning to us.  However, it would take 10-12 days to reach us so we’ll have plenty of time to react IF it ever becomes a Gulf threat.   Newly formed Tropical Storm Helene is just off of Africa and will skirt by the Cao Verde Islands tomorrow before recurving to the north later next week.  By far, our attention will be focused on what will be Isaac, but this system is so far away it is useless to speculate what might happen.  Another disturbance coming off of Africa by Monday could become Joyce next week leaving us 4 storms to follow at the same time.  That has happened before in case you wonder.   In our immediate future (5-7 days), we will not have any tropical threats in the Gulf.  An upper low is over the eastern Gulf moving to the west.  Upper lows cause lots of wind shear around them creating a hostile environment for development.      I still don’t see any real cold fronts in sight until after the 20^th.  Enjoy your weekend and go Saints!  Who Dat!