Invest 90-E designated as Tropical Storm Alvin expected to form off Mexico's coast this week | FOX 35 Orlando
FOX 35 meteorologist Laurel Blanchard visits NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center in Lakeland, Florida, which is home to NOAA's special aircraft. Each one -- Kermit and Piggy, specifically -- are named after the famous Muppets characters. The data and observations from these aircrafts help determine the power and intensity of a tropical storm or hurricane -- and better forecast for people to prepare in the days ahead of a potential landfall.
A tropical depression is expected to form off the coast of Mexico this week and would be named Alvin if it strengthens into a tropical storm, the first of the season in either the Eastern Pacific or Atlantic basins.
The National Hurricane Center designated the area as Invest 90-E on Monday. An invest is a term used to indicate an area under increased scrutiny by forecasters for the potential of tropical development.
According to the (NHC), showers and thunderstorms have become more concentrated near a broad area of low pressure several hundred miles off the coast of southern Mexico, where conditions appear favorable for further development.
There is now a high chance of this system developing into at least a tropical depression within the next two days.
Is Florida due for a hurricane to hit its East Coast?
FOX 35 meteorologist Noah Bergren looks at the number of tropical storms and hurricanes that have come within 100 miles of the Florida Peninsula. Notably, only 3 major hurricanes have made landfall on Florida's East Coast.
This comes a little less than two weeks after the official start of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season.
Hurricane season in the Eastern Pacific began on May 15, while the official start to the Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1.
The NHC said conditions appear favorable for the development of this system, and a tropical depression is expected to form around midweek as it moves west-northwestward at around 10 mph.
"It's going to probably be a well-put-together storm," FOX Weather Meteorologist Ari Sarsalari said on Monday morning. "It makes a little run at the Baja [California] Peninsula."
However, even if the system develops into a tropical storm, conditions do not currently seem favorable for it to have a major impact on land.
"There's a wall that it hits where the water is much cooler, and there happens to be a lot of wind shear – all things that tend to break up storms pretty significantly," Sarsalari added.
This system will receive the name Alvin if it strengthens into a tropical storm or hurricane.
The Source: This story was written based on information shared by FOX Weather.
