AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
Tropical development in the Atlantic has picked up with one named tropical storm and another likely behind it. Neither are anticipated to affect North Carolina.
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Tropical Storm Cristobal officially formed in the Atlantic on Wednesday, Aug. 12., nearly 900 miles off the United States coast. It’s traveling east, toward Europe, and isn’t forecasted to have any impacts on North Carolina, said Chrissy Anderson, meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Raleigh office.
“It’s actually in the middle of nowhere, moving to Portugal, Spain, so that is definitely not going to cause any issue for us,” she said.
The National Hurricane Center is forecasting the storm to dissipate on Thursday.
A second tropical development, called AL92, is about 950 miles off the coast of Cabo Verde Islands and has an 80% of becoming a named storm in the next 48 hours, according to the National Hurricane Center.
“Right now (weather models) are showing that it’s going to maybe reach Dominica near the Barbados area around 9 p.m. Saturday evening, and just bringing lots of rain, shower storms,” Anderson said. “The latest ensembles staying south of Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba and kind of dwindling out.”
Some earlier models showed the storms moving more north, but that’s since changed as of 3 p.m. Wednesday.
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“That’s the biggest thing in the past 24 hours is that it’s definitely going to stay in the Caribbean versus going into the Atlantic area,” Anderson said.
The National Weather Service is also tracking a third potential development off the west African coast and has a 20% chance of becoming a named storm in the next 48 hours.
“Peak tropical development is usually the first week of September,” Anderson said. “So we aren’t even close to peak season yet. So there’s still plenty of time. November 30th is the last day of tropical season, so there’s plenty of time for development in the Atlantic.”
The National Weather Service is forecasted a below-normal hurricane season in 2026, expecting anywhere from seven to 13 named storms. The hurricane forecast includes two to six hurricanes with winds of 74 mph or higher and no more than two major hurricanes, with winds of 111 mph or greater.
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