One way to end a drought is by having tropical moisture move through, as people from southern states like Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi or Florida know from experience.
But soon, many in the currently drought-stricken South may just get some reprieve due to two tropical systems currently swirling in the Eastern Pacific Basin by the southern Mexico coast.
“You just hope that it’s not a full-fledged nasty storm,” FOX Weather meteorologist Britta Merwin said. “Well, we’re tracking something in the Pacific that could provide some benefit.”
Invest 90E and Tropical Disturbance No. 1 have both been given high chances of development over the next few days by the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
An “invest” designation is given by the NHC for tropical disturbances that warrant additional monitoring. As 90E moves further into the eastern tropical Pacific, conditions appear more favorable for development.
Once developed, the system would be tagged Tropical Depression Seventeen-E or Tropical Storm Norma.
“So we’re talking about really high chances of something brewing,” Merwin said. “And this could allow for some moisture to move into the U.S.”
The moisture core will of what is currently Invest 90E is forecast to eventually move into northern portions of Mexico early next week. The mountainous terrain is expected to tear apart the system, but the remnant tropical moisture may carry east into Texas and the southern Plains sometime in the early to middle part of next week.
“We have two areas that could very well turn into tropical systems that push moisture into Mexico, and then we can capitalize off that moisture,” Merwin added. “Some of our computer models show that it brings rain to parts of Texas, maybe into Arkansas, which doesn’t need the rain, but Texas could use it.”
Showers and thunderstorms associated with the area of low pressure dubbed 90E, located a few hundred miles offshore of the southwestern coast of Mexico, are gradually becoming better organized. The 35-mph winds qualify for tropical depression status, but the low still does not have a well-defined center, the NHC said.
Environmental conditions are conducive for further development of this system, and a tropical depression is very likely to form later Tuesday or Tuesday night, the NHC says.
This system is expected to move slowly west-northwestward and then turn northwestward or northward late in the week offshore of the coast of southwestern Mexico.
Another area of low pressure is expected to form south of the coasts of Guatemala and southern Mexico in a couple of days.
Gradual development of the disturbance is expected, and a tropical depression is likely to form late this week or over the weekend while the system meanders over the far eastern portion of the basin, the NHC said.