Hurricane trackers have identified a new storm in the Caribbean that could develop into ‘Oscar’ in the coming days as it gains strength in the Atlantic Ocean.
Dan Brown, division chief at the National Hurricane Center (NHC), told DailyMail.com that the storm is already on track for “flash flooding and possible landslides,” similar to Hurricane Helene that hit Florida and North Carolina.
The low-pressure system is currently weighing down Costa Rica and Panama, bringing showers and thunderstorms.
NHC reported Wednesday that a potential Oscar “could develop gradually as the system remains above water as it moves slowly northwestward toward Central America.”
The storm alert comes as potential tropical storm ‘Nadine’ is also moving towards the Caribbean and could hit Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
Just a week after Hurricane Milton’s punishing blow through Florida, the U.S. National Hurricane Center is monitoring a potential new storm over Panama, which will be named “Oscar” if it worsens. Oscar now has a 20 percent chance of becoming a tropical storm within seven days
“The system could become a bit organized as it moves into Central America over the next few days and could bring quite a bit of heavy rain,” Brown explained, noting that the effects could be similar to those of Hurricane Helene.
But he cautioned that this storm is still moving, making it too early to predict what an emerging Oscar’s true final track might be or where it could do the most damage.
“It is difficult to say when the peak of the storm will hit because a broad area of low pressure has been established over parts of Central America,” Brown advised.
According to the latest version of NHC, Oscar now has a 10 percent chance of becoming a tropical storm within the next 48 hours and a 20 percent chance within the next seven days.
An official NHC update Wednesday morning stated that the storm could transform into a tropical depression or Tropical Storm Oscar if the system stays on track.
“Regardless,” wrote NHC forecasters Dave Zelinsky and Lisa Bucci, “locally heavy rainfall is possible in parts of Central America later this week.”
While NHC models showed the storm’s current path toward the coastline near Belize and Guatemala, Brown told DailyMail.com that broader areas should prepare.
“Parts of Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvadore and possibly parts of southeastern Mexico,” he said.
“It appears the rainfall is already happening and will likely continue for the next few days,” Brown noted.
According to him, tropical depressions, tropical storms and hurricanes are expressions of the same weather phenomenon Dr Mathew Barlowprofessor of environmental, earth and atmospheric sciences at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
“Tropical cyclones are the common type of storm,” Dr Barlow said Newsweek.
‘A tropical depression is a tropical cyclone with maximum wind speeds of 60 km/h or less. A tropical storm is a tropical cyclone with maximum wind speeds of 60-120 km/hour. A hurricane is a tropical cyclone with maximum wind speeds of 120 km/h or higher,” he explained.
“The system (yellow other than Hurricane Helene
An official NHC update Wednesday said the storm could become a tropical depression or worse “if the system remains above water as it slowly moves northwest toward Central America.” Above, large clouds over Havana due to Tropical Storm Helene, September 24, 2024
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), hurricanes typically form from tropical waves combining with warm ocean water.
Thunderstorms and other atmospheric turbulence can help push a storm front to gather hurricane force, while warmer ocean air rises in these storm clouds, creating an area of low pressure below.
A hurricane’s maximum sustained wind speed, defined as the highest one-minute average wind speed at a given time, defines the boundary between these powerful storms and smaller tropical cyclones.
The Florida counties hardest hit by Hurricane Milton reportedly returned to a fragile state of normalcy this week, with power companies restoring electricity to an estimated 93 percent of the 3.4 million homes and businesses served by them lost.
Gas stations reopened and students prepared to return to school last Monday, although many neighborhoods are still without power as they deal with heavily damaged homes and businesses and their streets flooded and littered with debris .
Milton’s death toll currently hovers around 11, compared to Hurricane Helene’s much more definitive death toll, which is now over 240.
The White House has approved more than $1.8 billion for recovery efforts in southern states hit by the one-two punch of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.