Tropics Watch: "Erika" and "Jimena"

National Hurricane Center

Four named tropical systems (3 storms and one intense hurricane) formed in the Atlantic and Gulf during August 2009, a fairly active month; but the season total thus far is running slightly below average storm count of 5.

A new system taking shape has a fairly high chance of becoming a depression, and possibly tropical storm, on either September 1 or 2, according to the National Hurricane Center. It is located east of Puerto Rico near the Lesser Antilles.

The good news is this: the persistent trough over the east will likely steer this tropical cyclone away from the U.S. coast just as we saw with “Bill” and “Danny”. The system has a very low chance of affecting Texas based on expected steering winds.

Meanwhile, intense hurricane "Jimena" off of the Baja California coast will need to be monitored for potential effects on Texas weather as its remnants move our way in the jet stream flow this weekend. This Category 4 hurricane packed maximum sustained winds of 155mph Monday evening and was projected to be a Category 5 before weakening at landfall.

However, as always with tropical weather systems, a day to day update will be required.