ORLANDO, Fla. — We officially have our next named storm. Tropical Storm Zeta forms overnight in the Caribbean, south of Cuba.
Tropical Storm Zeta is nearly stationary this morning and the latest track has it headed towards the Louisiana coastline.
Although Zeta is expected to stay west of Central Florida, we will look for a surge of tropical moisture Sunday and into this upcoming week.
2020 is now tied with 2005 for the most active hurricane season on record, with both years getting to Zeta.
Hurricane season ends Nov. 30.
Original Report:
An area of disturbed weather has a 70% chance to develop over the weekend.
Labeled Invest 95-L, it still lacks a well-defined low-level circulation, but conditions are becoming more favorable for its development.
A tropical depression might form by this weekend or early next week. It is expected to cross western Cuba and approach the Florida Straits.
Periods of heavy rainfall are expected for Cuba this weekend and the tropical moisture will also increase the rain chance for South Florida this weekend.
For Central Florida, we are not expecting this system to impact directly this weekend as it will continue to travel over the Florida Straits early next week.
The high-pressure system known as the Bermuda high, located over the Atlantic ocean, will retract eastward and a low-pressure system with a cold front will start to slide down across the Central U.S., approaching the southeastern U.S.
Depending on the timing, the tropical disturbance still has a chance to enter the Gulf and stay west of Florida or even approach southwestern Florida. If this scenario plays out, Central Florida’s rain chances will increase by the middle of next week.
If the cold front dips a bit more south and the Bermuda high retracts faster then the tropical disturbance would cross the Florida Straits and it would be located east of Florida.
This last scenario would not give us rain showers from the tropical system, but perhaps we would get higher rain chances from the approaching cold front.
As of now, in the short term through the weekend, much for the tropical moisture over the weekend will affect from the Florida Keys to the Treasure Coast, perhaps only a few scattered showers entering Osceola and Brevard counties.
Read: Scattered showers, storms to move through this afternoon, slightly drier weekend ahead
By early next week, we could potentially have a tropical depression or named system. The next name on the list is Zeta.
We will continue to monitor the evolution and bring you the latest on wftv.com, Eyewitness News and on our free WFTV Weather app
Read: 2020 Hurricane season so far
EPSILON MOVES AWAY FROM BERMUDA
Epsilon is located just northeast of Bermuda and moving very slowly to the north. The hurricane has lost strength overnight and will gradually continue to weaken as it moves over cooler waters. Its speed is also expected to increase early Saturday as it turns to the northeast, even farther away from the Americas.
Epsilon remains a large storm system. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 15 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 255 miles.
Epsilon will continue to bring rough seas and a high risk for rip currents along the east coast of the United States and Canada this weekend.
Photos: Hurricane Delta damage
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