2 weeks Ago
From the National Hurricane Center Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Tropical Storm Rafael is expected to dissipate in the Gulf of Mexico before it reaches land but could generate life-threatening rip currents along the Gulf Coast through the weekend, forecasters with the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Sunday. "Rafael poses no direct threat to land, but swells from the storm are still contributing to an elevated rip current risk along the northern and western Gulf Coast, and this will likely continue into Monday before subsiding on Tuesday," NHC hurricane specialist Andrew Hagen said in a 9 a.m.
forecast. Rafael was roughly 400 miles north-northwest from Progreso, Mexico, at 9 a.m.
The storm was producing sustained winds of 40 mph and moving north-northwest at 3 mph. From the National Hurricane Center The system is expected to continue weakening as it makes a small clockwise loop over the Gulf during the next several days. The NHC's latest forecast shows the storm becoming a remnant low then dissipating by mid-week.
Disturbance near the Bahamas Hurricane forecasters were also tracking a trough of low pressure a couple hundred miles east of the Bahamas. Forecasters said development of the system is becoming less likely as it moves through hostile environmental conditions. Regardless, heavy rains and high winds are possible Sunday night as the system moves west across the Bahamas, according to the NHC.
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