Subtropical Storm Alberto formed over the northwestern Caribbean Sea on Friday morning.\u00a0 The National Hurricane Center (NHC) designated an area of low pressure as Subtropical Storm Alberto on Friday morning based on data from buoys and ship reports.\u00a0 At 5:00 p.m. EDT on Friday the center of Subtropical Storm Alberto was located at latitude 19.4\u00b0N and longitude 86.3\u00b0W which put it about 85 miles (135 km) south-southeast of Cozumel, Mexico.\u00a0 Alberto was moving toward the east at 2 m.p.h. (3 km\/h).\u00a0 The maximum sustained wind speed was 40 m.p.h. (65 km\/h) and there were wind gusts to 50 m.p.h. (80 km\/h).\u00a0 The minimum surface pressure was 1005 mb.<\/p>\n
A Tropical Storm Watch has been issued for the portion of the U.S. coast from Indian Pass, Florida to Grand Isle, Louisiana including New Orleans.\u00a0 The government of Mexico issued a Tropical Storm Watch for the portion of the coast from Tulum to Cabo Catoche.\u00a0 The government of Cuba issued a Tropical Storm Watch for the province of Pinar del Rio.<\/p>\n
The circulation around Subtropical Storm Alberto was asymmetrical.\u00a0 The low level center of circulation was located just to east of the Yucatan Peninsula.\u00a0 The strongest thunderstorms were occurring in a band located about 100 miles (160 km) east and north of the center.\u00a0 Flow around an upper level trough over the Gulf of Mexico was producing westerly winds which were blowing toward the top of the circulation.\u00a0 Those winds were causing strong vertical wind shear which was the reason why the thunderstorms were occurring well to the east of the center of circulation.<\/p>\n
Subtropical Storm Alberto will move through an environment marginally favorable for intensification during the next 24 to 36 hours.\u00a0 Alberto will move over water where\u00a0 the Sea Surface Temperature is near 28\u00b0C.\u00a0 So, there is sufficient energy in the upper ocean to support intensification.\u00a0 However, the upper level trough will continue to cause moderate to strong vertical wind shear during the next day or so.\u00a0 The wind shear will inhibit intensification.\u00a0 Some gradual strengthening is possible.\u00a0 The winds are weaker near the axis of the upper level trough.\u00a0 If Alberto moves under the axis of the trough when it reaches the northern Gulf of Mexico, then the wind shear will decrease.\u00a0 Alberto could strengthen more quickly if that happens.\u00a0 There is a chance that Alberto could reach hurricane intensity.\u00a0 If more thunderstorms form closer to the center of circulation, then NHC could change the designation of Alberto to a tropical storm.<\/p>\n
Subtropical Storm Alberto is moving around the western end of a large high pressure system over the Atlantic Ocean.\u00a0 The high is steering Alberto slowly toward the north-northeast.\u00a0 A general motion toward the north is forecast during the next day or so.\u00a0 When Alberto gets farther north, the upper level trough could steer it more toward the north-northwest.\u00a0 There is a chance that the steering currents could weaken when Alberto nears the Gulf Coast.\u00a0 Thus, there is much more uncertainty about the track forecast after that time.<\/p>\n
The greatest risk with Subtropical Storm Alberto will be locally heavy rain and the potential for flooding.\u00a0 Most of the heavy rain is likely to fall north and east of the center.\u00a0 Much less rain is likely to fall from the western side of Alberto.\u00a0 The coast of the Gulf of Mexico is very susceptible to storm surges.\u00a0 The water level will rise along the eastern and northern coasts of the Gulf of Mexico where the winds blow the water toward the shoreline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Subtropical Storm Alberto formed over the northwestern Caribbean Sea on Friday morning.\u00a0 The National Hurricane Center (NHC) designated an area of low pressure as Subtropical Storm Alberto on Friday morning based on data from buoys and ship reports.\u00a0 At 5:00 p.m. EDT on Friday the center of Subtropical Storm Alberto was located at latitude 19.4\u00b0N […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[316,317,384,1014,145,51,50,873,717,24,493,837,716,100,99,1013,1015,1012],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5899"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5899"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5904,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5899\/revisions\/5904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}