6 days ago
More tropical activity may brew over Gulf next week
As a belt of high pressure builds over much of the southern United States next week, waters over the northern Gulf to areas along the central Gulf coast will be the zone to watch for tropical development, AccuWeather meteorologists advise.
"Basically, a swirl in the shower and thunderstorm pattern, partially associated with the tropical rainstorm that doused Louisiana from Wednesday to Thursday, may be recycled days later," AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva said.
This particular batch of thunderstorms may barely be recognizable as it blends in with existing showers and thunderstorms and travels toward the Ohio Valley this weekend, then off the southern Atlantic coast early next week. From there, winds will guide this swirl, likely containing downpours and thunderstorms westalong the northern Gulf of Mexico.
"The area we are watching will be in a zone of higher wind shear (disruptive breezes) when compared to prior areas we have been watching in the northeast Gulf and along the southern Atlantic coast," DaSilva said. "The southern Atlantic area gave birth to Chantal earlier in July."
Moderate to high wind shear will limit the development of any tropical rainstorm that organizes over the northern Gulf. At this time, AccuWeather has assigned a low risk of tropical development for next week.
"The wind shear will also act as swift steering breezes, quickly taking any such fledgling feature westward across the Gulf with limited time for strengthening," DaSilva said. "Still, a center that tries to form over the open waters of the Gulf instead of bouncing along the upper Gulf coast would have better odds at developing."Have the app? Unlock AccuWeather Alerts™ with Premium+
The steering breezes could carry any moisture west toward Texas and bring at least some uptick in thunderstorm activity along the Texas coast for the middle and latter part of next week.
Farther north, under the core of the building heat dome, little to no thunderstorm activity is anticipated in areas such as northern Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas.
Should a tropical storm develop, the next name on the list for 2025 is Dexter.
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