Tropical Storm Sara has formed in the western Caribbean Sea on Thursday, Nov. 14. It's the 18th named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.
What You Need To Know
- Tropical Storm Sara has formed
- It's expected to bring several inches of rain to Central America
- Forecast calls for Sara to dissipate by Monday
Sara is becoming better organized over the western Caribbean Sea as it slowly moves westward near the coast of Honduras. It has max winds of 40 mph.
As it drifts along the coast of Honduras over the next few days, it will bring heavy rainfall and life-threatening flash flooding to portions of Central America.
Significant flooding and mudslides are expected across portions of Honduras, Belize, El Salvador, eastern Guatemala and western Nicaragua through the weekend with rainfall totals up to 12 to 16 inches near the coast, and isolated totals up to 20 to 30 inches.
Tropical Storm Watches in effect for parts of coastal Nicaragua.
Tropical Storm Warnings are in effect for coastal Honduras and the Bay Islands of Honduras.
There is a high degree of uncertainty where this system may end up, but anyone with travel plans to the Caribbean should watch this carefully. The update on Thursday night calls for Sara to dissipate before it moves into the Gulf of Mexico. While this is the official forecast, there is a non-zero chance an area of low pressure may make it into the Gulf.
If that plays out, a front will approach from the west and interact with the system and take it to the east toward Florida, but model intensity ranges from an open tropical wave just bringing rainfall to Florida to a named storm. More land interaction with Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula would lessen the chance of a named storm impacting the U.S.
Spaghetti models or plots show a series of individual computer forecast models together on one map. They are useful to give insight into whether multiple models are in agreement on the path of the storm but they do not address the storm’s forecast intensity, winds, flooding and storm surge potential or other data. Tap here for more details on how to best use these models.
Here's a look at the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season so far.
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