Subtropical storm Alberto formed over the northwestern Caribbean Sea, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an advisory on Friday, May 25.
The system is located about 55 miles south of Cozumel, Mexico, packing maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour, the Florida-based weather forecaster said.
“Heavy rainfall expected to affect the Yucatan Peninsula, western Cuba, Florida and the northeastern Gulf Coast through the weekend,” the agency said, according to Reuters.
It is the first named storm of the 2018 Atlantic storm season.
“The threats for South Florida and the Florida peninsula are periods of very heavy rain and gusty winds including isolated tornadoes. Three to 7 inches of rain is forecast over South Florida between now and next Wednesday, with some local areas seeing 10 inches or more. The rain associated with the storm is expected to begin in earnest after sunrise Saturday. See the rainfall map below,” according to Local10.
“We cannot rule out the possibility of this system becoming a hurricane before it makes landfall sometime on Monday or Monday evening,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Dan Kottlowski, USA Today reported.
He added: “As it becomes more persistent, it will create a pileup of water, so the concern is for southwest Florida, or the west coast to Appalachicola Bay, which could get a big inundation of water because of the constant wind blowing and a lot of places are very prone to flooding,” the Miami Herald reported.
Heavy rains from Subtropical Storm #Alberto are expected across the Yucatan Peninsula, western Cuba, and southern Florida for the next few days. Heavy rain will likely begin to affect the central Gulf Coast and southeastern US later this weekend. pic.twitter.com/pz13P29VlF
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) May 25, 2018
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