And away ... we go.
The National Hurricane Center, after noting a low-pressure system in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico had finally established a low-level center of circulation, it classified it as Tropical Storm Alberto at 11 a.m. Wednesday. It's the first of what will likely be many ... many, many ... named storms in 2024.
It's packing winds of 40 mph, although the NHC noted most of the higher winds are to the northeast of the circulation center. That center is expected to land on the central Mexican coast late Thursday morning as a minimal tropical storm, although winds and rains are expected to move up into south Texas — an area in desperate need of rain. A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect from San Luis Pass near Galveston south through the Mexican coast to Tecolutla.
What's it mean for us? As retiring WKMG meteorologist Tom Sorrells would call it ... "Interesting, but not important."
What's still important for us is an area of low pressure near the Bahamas that will move toward the southeast U.S. coast by Friday and enhance our rain chances later in the week. The NHC is giving it a low (20%) chance of forming into a depression, and computer models are all backing off of development. The NHC is also hinting at another low forming down in the Gulf near were Alberto formed over the weekend. A long-run GFS model had a potential tropical storm impacting the Florida Panhandle sometime next week, but hasn't shown that in Thursday morning model runs.
Here we go, folks!
