Riviera Maya, Q.R. — The Atlantic’s slow moving fourth storm of the season has forecasters issuing a hurricane warning. On Saturday afternoon, the National Hurricane Centre (NOAA) updated its landfall warning of Debbie from a tropical storm to a likely hurricane.
The current Tropical Storm Debbie past over Cuba Saturday, making her way toward the Gulf of Mexico where the system is forecast to take a sharp right toward Florida. If forecasts are correct, Debbie will hit a portion of the west coast of Florida, the Big Bend region, as a category 1 mid-day Monday.
According to AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva, the storm is expected to gain strength as it nears land. “As [Debby] pulls away from Cuba and then moves over the eastern Gulf of Mexico this weekend, we expect it to gain strength. As this feature approaches the Big Bend of Florida early Monday, further intensification to a Category 1 hurricane can occur,” he said Saturday.
“Since Debby will stay over the Gulf through Sunday night, it will have enough time to quickly ramp up and become a strong tropical storm or hurricane before pushing inland over northern Florida,” he added.
Debbie is the Atlantic’s fourth of the year. The third, Chris, was a short-lived tropical cyclone that developed in early July after destructive Hurricane Beryl. Beryl developed in late June and eventually hit the state of Quintana Roo as a category 2 July 5.
Since Beryl, forecasters have increased their Atlantic storm count for the 2024 season now agreeing on high-end figures of around 25 named storms of which 13 could be hurricanes and seven of those major.
Storm Debbie developed July 29 and is the first after weeks of quietness in the Atlantic since the passing of Beryl. Forecasters are anticipating the Atlantic to begin producing an abundance of activity.
“There’s definitely some (tropical activity) coming,” Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane expert and research scientist at Colorado State University, said last week with the development of now-Debbie. “It’s coming sooner rather than too much later.”
