Forecasters predict Tropical Depression 9 could strengthen into Hermine, our next named storm, and have impacts on Florida.
With maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, the system is located east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica.
“Only slow intensification is forecast over the next day or so, followed by more significant intensification over the weekend and early next week,” the National Hurricane Center said. Tropical Depression Nine is predicted to be steered toward the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Peninsula by the middle of next week.
Early Monday, current models show Hermine strengthening into a Category 1 hurricane. Models predict it will become a Category 2 hurricane over Cuba before moving toward Florida on Wednesday.
There is certainly a growing likelihood of a powerful hurricane impacting the U.S. around the middle of next week, even though it is still too early to tell where this system is headed.
If the system makes landfall in Florida as a hurricane, it will be the second time a hurricane named Hermine has hit the state. Hurricane Hermine made landfall east of St. Marks, Florida, in 2016. Hurricane Hermine made landfall in Florida for the first time since Hurricane Wilma on October 24, 2005.
