Things are expected to remain quiet across the Atlantic, Caribbean and the Gulf through this weekend & no tropical development is expected. Analysis reveals that very strong wind shear values exists across the Gulf, the Caribbean and much of the Atlantic and this is a big reason why tropical development is not expected for at least the next several days.
Turning to next week and especially by later next week, it appears that stormy and squally weather will become commonplace across the western and northwestern Caribbean, including across much of the Yucatan Peninsula and across Belize. This squally weather may also affect western Cuba and the Cayman Islands by later next week.
One reason for this expected stormy weather has to do with an upper level trough of low pressure that will be located over the eastern United States this weekend into early next week. This trough of low pressure is expected to lift out to the northeast leaving behind a piece of energy and moisture over the northwestern Caribbean by later next week. This piece of energy will help to produce squally weather over the western and the northwestern Caribbean next week, but especially during late next week.
Eventually, we might see the development of a tropical system over the northwestern Caribbean around next weekend or so. That said, this is not a sure thing, but it is a possibility and is something that does need to be watched.
Latest Model Guidance: There continues to be some consensus in the model guidance that points to the possibility of tropical development occurring around next weekend or so. That said, some of the guidance are much more aggressive than others.
The GFS model guidance continues to consistently show the potential for tropical development over the northwestern Caribbean during next weekend. In fact, the last few forecast runs of the GFS model has been quite aggressive and strong with its forecast strength of this system. This is a bias of the GFS model where it can overstrengthen tropical systems & in the end, they are much weaker than what the model showed. That said, the GFS model does show some sort of a tropical system to track from the northwestern Caribbean next weekend to either into the eastern Gulf or near the Florida Peninsula during the first half of the week of June 9.
On the end of the spectrum, the Canadian model forecasts no development at all in the northwestern Caribbean.
The European model also doesn’t support the intensity of the tropical system that the GFS model shows. It does show, however, some sort of an area of disturbed weather to be located in the northwestern Caribbean next weekend into the first part of the week of June 9.
It should also be pointed out that both the GFS and the European models have a similar weather pattern setup for next weekend. Both models do show an upper level trough of low pressure to be located over the Gulf and the northwestern Caribbean next weekend. The reason why the GFS model seems to be forecasting a lot more disturbed weather to be present leading to a more favorable environment for development. Again, I do want to emphasize that the GFS model does have a bias towards overdoing the amount of disturbed weather that occurs and erroneously spinning up tropical systems in the western Caribbean. In the end, development usually is much slower to occur or it doesn’t occur at all.
The GFS ensemble model guidance and also the European ensemble model guidance both show members that forecast development in the northwestern Caribbean next weekend. Much like its operational counterpart, the GFS ensemble model guidance is quite aggressive with their forecast development. It should be pointed out that the European ensemble model guidance does show a 30-40 percent chance for tropical development in the northwestern Caribbean and the southern Gulf during the week of June 9.
Here Are My Latest Thoughts: First off, I am completely disregarding the GFS model in how it shows a strong tropical system next weekend into the week of June 9.
That being said, the GFS model has had a decent track record of sniffing out tropical development well ahead of any of the other models. This has occurred several times during the past two hurricane seasons, so the GFS model may be seeing something in terms of tropical development.
My thinking right now is that I think there is certainly a chance for a tropical disturbance to fester over the northwestern Caribbean starting during next weekend. It’s then possible (although a very low possibility right now) that we could see a tropical depression or a sloppy and disorganized tropical storm form over the northwestern Caribbean and the southern Gulf during the first part of the week of June 9.
This is something that still has my attention and is something that I will continue to keep a close eye on.
The next tropical weather discussion will be issued on Monday.