New tropical disturbance could bring impacts to U.S. coast, NHC says

A tropical depression that could form over the weekend may bring impacts to parts of the U.S. East Coast from Florida to North Carolina, according to forecasters.

The tropical disturbance, designated AL94 and currently located north of Hispaniola near the Turks and Caicos Islands, is expected to develop into a tropical depression by late Friday or over the weekend as it moves into the Bahamas, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

In a video update Thursday, NHC Director Dr. Michael Brennan said the system is expected to move northwest to north across the southwestern Atlantic.

“There’s an increasing risk of impacts from the system across the southeast U.S. coast from Florida to North Carolina,” Brennan said, advising residents to monitor updates through the weekend.

Meteorologists say AL94 could interact with newly-formed Tropical Storm Humberto in the central Atlantic, making the future track of both systems more difficult to predict.

Humberto is forecast to rapidly intensify into a major hurricane by the weekend. The storm, packing sustained winds of 60 mph on Thursday evening, is not currently a threat to land.

Humberto is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic season and could become the third major hurricane, following Erin in August and Gabrielle earlier this week. Gabrielle, now a post-tropical cyclone, is expected to strike the Azores with hurricane conditions before continuing toward Portugal and Morocco.