Tropical System Showing Signs Of Stregnthening

Tropical forecasters will tell you that while their forecasts are based on a lot of science, satellites, observations, and gut intuition, sometimes they are no match for Mother Nature.

The National Hurricane Center has been observing a tropical wave now centered over the Yucatan Peninsula for the past week.

At first the possibility of this system growing stronger seemed to be almost none. Now forecasters are giving this particular area of disturbed weather a 50% probability of becoming a tropical cyclone in the Gulf of Mexico.

As of Saturday afternoon the latest projection on the path of this system would carry the center off the coast of Mexico and into the Bay of Campeche. The water temperature in that part of the Gulf of Mexico is warm enough to support tropical development.

Tropical forecast models that had not been picking up the system earlier in the week are now beginning to develop a potential track for the system. Most of these  models do keep this system away from the coastal United States.

Should this system reach tropical storm status it would be named Danielle.