Tropical developments in Atlantic Ocean hindered by Saharan dust | Tropical Weather Forecast

All right. Good afternoon to you. I'm Fox 26 meteorologist. Remission. Shade. Let's talk a little tropics, shall we? We are getting to that part of the season that is typically a bit concerning because it's usually the busiest part of our hurricane season, of course, which runs from June all the way to the end of November. And we're getting closer and closer to the month of September, which is typically the busiest. The good news things are fairly quiet across the Atlantic basin. However, we've got multiple systems in the Eastern Pacific, and even in the Central Pacific. But of most concern right now is a major hurricane. This is Hurricane Gilma. This is in the Eastern Pacific. You can see that well-defined eye right there. And it is pushing off mainly to the west northwest. So let's track Gilma. Here is the latest winds up to 125mph. That makes it a category three major hurricane. Of course, on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which measures hurricane strength. Anything category three or higher would be a major hurricane. So this is the real deal. Thank goodness it's over water and not threatening any land at this point. Movement fairly slow to the west northwest around seven miles per hour and pressure continues to fall. It is forecast to actually briefly become an even stronger category four hurricane, possibly this evening, into tonight, and then back down to a three as we go into the weekend and beyond, and then maybe a little weaker as we go into next week. But through the next 4 to 5 days or so. Still not expected to impact any major land area. So thank goodness it's moving away from the U.S. and Mexico and Central and South America and it is a fish storm. Basically. We're not expecting it to impact anyone at this point. So let's switch over to the Atlantic Basin. Of course, that's in the eastern Pacific basin, but for the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, of course, so far this season, we've had five named storms. And of course, the forecast before the season started calling for an above average number of named storms. We haven't gotten there yet, but we could still have quite a few of these systems to develop over the coming weeks, over the next few months, since that is typically when we do get the highest number of storms. But of course, we've had tropical storm Alberto, Hurricane Beryl, of course, which hit the Houston area and blew up to a monstrous category five before reaching Houston. But fortunately, it didn't hit us at that strength. Of course, we briefly had Tropical Storm Chris and we had Hurricane Debby, a category one hurricane, at one point. And of course, the most recent system, Arnesto, which was a category two hurricane at one point. So the next name on the list would be Francine. So do we have Francine developing anytime soon? Well, the answer, I think for now is no. One of the main reasons we've still got a decent amount of that Saharan dust impacting a big chunk of the central and eastern Atlantic Ocean. So that means a lot of dry air, a lot of sinking air is going to be difficult for any well-defined tropical wave to kind of get going in this type of environment. So with that dry air in place, with that Saharan dust in place, I don't think we're going to have a ton of development over the next 5 to 7 days notice as we check out our tropical satellite showing the Atlantic Ocean, not much in the central and northern portion of the Atlantic, but as you push a little bit farther to the south, there are a couple of weak waves trying to get going, but nothing very impressive at all, because really, that dry air just kind of eating up these systems. So no tropical cyclone activity actually expected for the next seven days. So that's good news for us. Some of you are still trying to recover from the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl. Of course, which barreled across Houston back on July eighth. So water's out there across the Gulf of Mexico, much of the Caribbean, western, central portions of the Atlantic Ocean, super warm, kind of like bathwater. Those temperatures well into the 80s. So we've still got that fuel out there for these tropical systems. If they're able to develop and get going. However, with the Saharan dust and with a few other factors in place, just not really seeing a big shot for any major development, at least over the next 5 to 7 days, however, we are about to roll into September pretty soon, so I want to show you some of the zones, some of the areas that typically would have a much better chance of seeing some of these tropical systems that could turn into hurricanes form. So we are looking at the most likely area for this to happen across the western Atlantic, just off of the East Coast and also down around the Caribbean islands. So that is where we have the highest risk for these tropical waves to blossom into tropical depressions, tropical storms, and yes, even hurricanes. For the month of September. What about the Gulf of Mexico? Well, it's not the area where we have the highest chance for development. But notice that orange switching to red for parts of the northern and central portions of the Gulf of Mexico for September. So that means that we do have a more likely shot for some tropical cyclone development for September. So if we were going to get anything, September will probably be our month. So we're going to watch things closely. We are expecting that Saharan dust to kind of start to scatter and fade over the next few weeks. And that would allow some of those tropical systems to get going, and we could start to track more of these named storms. So we are getting close to the month of September. We're not there yet, but of course, the actual peak of hurricane season right around September 10th. And then we start to go down the roller coaster a little bit as we go through October. And definitely a decline expected in the amount of tropical activity for November. And of course, December will be out of hurricane season starting on December 1st. So still we're watching quite a bit out there. Things are quiet in the Atlantic basin, but we are monitoring conditions. And of course if we get anything a little concerning