TD #8 May Become Tropical Storm; Heavy Rains Expected For Parts Of Central America

Things continue to get busier in the Atlantic, which should be expected once we get into the months of August and September.  Both months along with October represent the peak of the Atlantic Hurricane Season.  Activity had begun to pick up this time last week with several disturbances firing up in the Western Atlantic.

Emerging from those four disturbances were two more named storms in Franklin and Gert, but like their predecessors they faded away after only reaching moderate tropical storm strength.  However, another disturbance that developed last week has finally started to get its act together.  The eighth tropical depression of the 2011 Atlantic Hurricane season emerged late Thursday night in the Western Caribbean.

TD #8 emerged about 80 miles to the East-Northeast of Cabo Gracias A Dios located on the border of Nicaragua and Honduras.  Initially, the depression had winds of 35 miles per hour with a minimum central pressure of 1006 millibars as it headed to the West at 12 miles per hour.  Since then, the system has strengthened a bit, and is just below tropical storm strength as its pressure has fallen to 1005 millibars, or 29.68 inches of Hg.

As of the 11:00 AM EDT Advisory from the National Hurricane Center, Tropical Depression Eight is located some 195 miles to the East of Isla Roatan in Honduras, or bout 315 miles to the East-Southeast of Belize City in Belize.  Currently, a Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Bay Islands in Honduras while a Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the Belize coast from Dangriga to the Belize/Guatemala border.

A Tropical Storm Watch is also in effect for the coast of Honduras and Guatemala and the Southeastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from Punta Gruesa Southward to Chetumal.   While there is a good chance that the depression will intensify into a tropical storm prior to landfall, there will not be any significant threats from wind or storm surge.  However, the possibility of flooding and mudslides from torrential rains is very likely.

The depression is a very small storm system, but it has become better organized and more cohesive in the past 24 hours.  The National Hurricane Center had scheduled reconnaissance aircraft to fly into the area yesterday, but mechanical problems prevented that.  Nevertheless, the NHC had enough information by late Thursday night to reclassify the disturbance to a depression.