MIAMI – Potential Tropical Cyclone #2 is moving over the southwestern Caribbean Sea and is expected to become Tropical Storm Bonnie on Thursday. It will likely strengthen while approaching Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
At 8 a.m, the disturbance was located about 710 miles east of Bluefields, Nicaragua, and moving west at 20 miles per hour.
A Hurricane Watch is in effect for the Nicaragua/Honduras border to Laguna de Perlas, Nicaragua. A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for San Andres, Colombia. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Limon Costa Rica northward to the Nicaragua/Costa Rica Border and North of Laguna de Perlas to Sandy Bay Sirpi Nicaragua.
On the forecast track, the system will move across the southwestern Caribbean through Friday, cross southern Nicaragua or northern Costa Rica on Friday night, and emerge over the eastern Pacific Ocean on Saturday.
In the western Gulf of Mexico, an area of low pressure near the southern coast of Texas is showing signs of organization and there is a medium chance this disturbance may become a tropical depression. It is forecast to turn northward and move slowly inland over southeastern Texas on Thursday. Regardless of development, heavy rain will be possible along the coast of Texas over the next few days. A Hurricane Hunter plane will investigate this system Thursday afternoon if it remains over water.
In the western tropical Atlantic, a tropical wave was located several hundred miles east of the Windward Islands producing disorganized showers and storms. The National Hurricane Center is giving this just a 10% chance (low potential) of development as it moves west-northwestward. This disturbance is expected to move over the Windward Islands on Friday and then over the eastern Caribbean Sea by the weekend where further development is unlikely due to unfavorable environmental conditions.
