RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – Tropical Depression Eight, which formed Wednesday in the central Atlantic Ocean, organized enough overnight with winds just at Tropical Storm force strength. The center of Gordon is 585 miles east of Bermuda, and moving north-northeast at 15 mph away from any land in the open Atlantic Ocean. It will never pose a threat to the U.S., nor even Bermuda. Tropical Storm Gordon is pretty small, as far as tropical cyclones go, with tropical-storm-force winds extending east of the center only 25 miles. However, without any interference as it moves over water with minimal wind shear, it could intensify to a hurricane this weekend.
I circled Tropical Storm Gordon in red so you can see where it is relative to the U.S.
The tropical forecast model tracks for Gordon are nearly all in excellent agreement for this system to curve northeast into the North Atlantic this weekend, potentially reach category one hurricane strength, then lose its tropical characteristics, and eventually impact western Europe or the United Kingdom the middle of next week as a non-tropical cyclone.
CLICK HERE for the updated 2012 hurricane forecast from the National Hurricane Center.
No other tropical development is expected in the near-future.
So far this 2012 Atlantic tropical cyclone season has produced tropical storms Alberto, Beryl, Debbie, Florence and Gordon, along with hurricanes Chris and Ernesto.
Meteorologist Carrie Rose
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