2 Tropical Disturbances Under Watch As Jose Weakens

TAMPA, FL — Hurricane Irma may have fizzled out, but that doesn’t mean the Atlantic Ocean is calming down. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center on Thursday were tracking Tropical Storm Jose and two disturbances that are both showing signs of potential development over the next few days.

Tropical Storm Jose had weakened from hurricane status by Thursday afternoon, but was expected to gain strength once more by the weekend. Jose was located about 435 miles east-northeast of the southeastern Bahamas. The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 70 mph while traveling west-northwest at 7 mph. Tropical storm-force winds extended out from Jose by 115 miles, the hurricane center wrote in its update. (For more hurricane news or local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Tampa Patch. Click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

On its current path, Jose poses no immediate threat to the continental United States, including Hurricane Irma-battered Florida. Jose is expected to take a turn toward the northeast over the weekend, on a path that could bring it offshore of the eastern seaboard.

Watch: Hurricanes Jose And Irma Seen From Space

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Meanwhile, the first of two disturbances under watch is a tropical wave that was located about 800 miles southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands on Thursday afternoon. Hurricane center forecasters say the storm is currently disorganized, but “environmental conditions are expected to be conducive for gradual development of this system.” They expect a tropical depression to form sometime next week while the system moves west at 15 mph. By Thursday afternoon, forecasters gave the system a 20 percent chance of forming more in the next 48 hours. Those chances rise to 70 percent over the next five days.

The second disturbance, also a tropical wave, was located just south of the Cabo Verde Islands by 2 p.m. Sept. 14. “This system has become much better organized since yesterday and could become a tropical depression during the next couple of days before upper-level winds become less conducive for development,” the hurricane center’s update said.

The disturbance is expected to move west to west-northwest at 10 to 15 mph over the next few days. Forecasters give the system a 60 percent chance of forming more over the next 48 hours. Those chances rise to 70 percent over the next five days.

Should the storms develop enough to earn names, they will be called Lee and Maria.

Although it is far too early to tell what impacts the two disturbances may have on the United States, they serve as strong reminders that hurricane season remains at its peak. Forecasters call the period between mid-August and mid-October the “season within the season.” This eight-week period “is often the most active and dangerous time for tropical cyclone activity,” according to NOAA.

The peak period is historically responsible for major spikes in tropical weather activity, NOAA said. In fact, it accounts for roughly 78 percent of all tropical storm days on record. It is also the period when 87 percent of the category 1 and 2 hurricane days on record occurred. In addition, this period is responsible for “a whopping 96 percent of the major (category 3, 4 and 5) hurricane days.”

The conditions gradually become less ripe for development in mid-October when increased wind shear tends to reappear and water and air temperatures cool.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 each year. Average seasons produce about 12 named storms, of which six become hurricanes. Three of the hurricanes are generally deemed major.

Graphics courtesy of the National Hurricane Center