Hurricane forecasters watching 3 patches of rough weather in tropics

Hurricane forecasters were watching three areas of rough weather in the tropics on Tuesday, none of which pose an immediate threat to the Tampa Bay area or Florida.

The weather closest to Florida is in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, but it is headed toward Texas, not Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center’s advisory issued at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

“Shower and thunderstorm activity associated with the low has increased overnight but remains disorganized,” the center’s advisory said. “Some additional development of this system is possible as it moves slowly westward or west-southwestward and approaches the coast of Texas during the next two days. Regardless of development, heavy rain will be possible along portions of the Texas coast later this week.”

Forecasters are giving the weather a 30 percent chance of developing into a tropical system.

Another patch of weather being watched by forecasters is much farther away from Florida but has a far better chance of strengthening into a tropical system, forecasters said.

That weather was a few hundred miles east of the southern Windward Islands Tuesday morning. The forecast track from Spectrum Bay News 9 has that system affecting areas of South America and Central America, but not coming anywhere near the United States.

Forecasters say that system has a 70 percent chance of strengthening into a tropical system by Thursday morning and a 90 percent chance of doing so by Sunday.

A third system was located more than 1,000 miles east of the Windward Islands Tuesday morning and “continues to produce disorganized showers and thunderstorms,” the hurricane center said.

The weather is moving west-northwest at 15 mph and some strengthening is possible. Forecasters give it a 20 percent chance to develop into a tropical system by Sunday.

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