ORLANDO, Fla. ̵
Invest 98L, has become Tropical Depression # 6, and continues to move away from land. The system is about 300 miles northeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Currently, the storm is blowing to the east at about 2 mph and will turn northward on Wednesday.
Chief Meteorologist Tom Terry will be live on Eyewitness News starting at 4 p.m.
WATCH LIVE HERE
Dorian's Latest Track
DORIAN CROSSING THE LESSER ANTILLES
Dorian, the fourth tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, is trying to become better organized. Maximum sustained winds still at 60 mph as it is about 60 miles to the southeast of Barbados. Dorian is expected to cross the Lesser Antilles this evening and enter the Caribbean where it is expected to a very short window to intensify, through the first half of the day Tuesday, and then interact with the wind shear which can really damage the system.
The Barbados and surrounding Windward Islands could receive up to 10 inches of rain in some spots. Winds will be increasing as Dorian is likely to intensify to hurricane as it crosses the Lesser Antilles.
The Dorian is a very compact storm with gusty winds that only extend outward 45 miles .
A tropical storm storm has been issued for Puerto Rico as the storm is forecast to hit its South and much rain is expected to fall over the Island.
Puerto Rico under a Tropical Storm watch. #PR will be in the most active side of Dorian, expect torrential rains. 2-4in some spots 6 ''
Vigilancia de tormenta tropical para #PuertoRico
el lado más lluvioso de #Dorian traerá lluvias torreciales a PR 2-4 pulgadas, algunos con 6 '' pic.twitter.com/Kuvzj3JIz0– Irene Sans (@IreneSans) August 26, 2019
Latest watch and warnings in effect
Local weather: Rain, some storms expected in Central Florida
DORIAN'S TRACK
The storm will be very close to Puerto Rico on Wednesday. Under the 5 p.m. Monday advisory, the storm is set to pass about 20 miles southwest of Boqueron, Puerto Rico as a category 1 hurricane. The track continues to shift north a bit, but places Dorian right over the Mona Passage ( between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic Thursday morning.
#Dorian ' s rains arrive at the Windward Islands, this is a compact storm, the track has been consistent, but the intensities are EVERYWHERE.
Also, the track has shifted a bit to the right .. but with intensity varying so much, this could still change. pic.twitter.com/c7fprrYdAf– Irene Sans (@IreneSans) August 26, 2019
[19659004] DORIAN'S INTENSITY
Models are far from consensus on intensity, varying from tropical storm to hurricane category 3 on Thursday. This tells us that we need to focus on what we know about the conditions in the Caribbean. There is very dry air surrounding the system. This dry air has prevented the storm from gaining strength since it was named over the weekend. The system stayed with maximum sustained winds between 40 -50 miles per hour throughout the weekend. This system will encounter lots of wind shear once it enters the Caribbean which will limit its movement and structure further.
IS DORIAN A THREAT TO FLORIDA?
Viewers have asked if this system will threaten Florida. It is too far out to know this but considering it will struggle a lot in the Caribbean, then could pass over the high mountains in the Dominican Republic, this system is not likely to be a great tropical threat to Florida. The margin of error this far out is over 250 miles .
2019 Atlantic Hurricane Season name list
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What's the difference? Hurricane, tropical storm and tropical depression
It was expected for the tropics to get busier. After all, we are approaching the heart of the season. Usually, over 80% of Atlantic tropical activity occurs between August and October.
Channel 9 will continue to monitor the tropics closely and bring you the latest on Eyewitness News and our free WFTV Weather app.
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Interesting Fact: #Dorian replaced by Dean (2007) in the name list.
Hurricane #Dean was the strongest tropical cyclone of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. It was a category 5 hurrricane that hit Quintana Roo, Mexico. pic.twitter.com/0GgFEU7pvs– Irene Sans (@IreneSans) August 26, 2019
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