A storm over the Atlantic Ocean currently named Tropical Depression Twelve is expected to become a major hurricane—which will be named Kirk once it reaches tropical storm strength—by the end of the week.
The tropical depression is currently on the brink of strengthening into a tropical storm.
The storm system is moving westward across the Central Atlantic, and is currently forecast to be heading towards the U.S. East Coast.
"Maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph (55 km/h) with higher gusts. Steady strengthening is forecast, and the depression is likely to become a hurricane by Tuesday night or Wednesday," the National Hurricane Center said in a public advisory on Monday morning.
Tropical Depression Twelve formed from an area of low pressure in the eastern tropical Atlantic, west of Cabo Verde, and has been strengthening into a depression as it has moved to the west. The depression is expected to become a tropical storm imminently, and then intensify into a hurricane within a few days.
"Conditions are quite favorable along the path of the depression with 29 degree C [84.2 F] sea-surface temperatures, a moist environment, and weak vertical wind shear. Given the weak shear and the gradually improving structure, the cyclone should begin to steadily intensify soon. The depression is forecast to become a hurricane in 36 to 48 hours and a major hurricane in about 4 days," the NHC said in a forecast discussion.
A tropical storm becomes a hurricane when certain key conditions in the environment help it intensify, including warm ocean temperatures, moist air, and low wind shear (the difference in wind speed and direction at different altitudes). Strong wind shear can disrupt the structure of a storm, preventing it from becoming organized.
"Tropical depressions are the weakest class of tropical cyclones with maximum sustained winds below 39 mph and typically have disorganized thunderstorms. Tropical storms have maximum sustained winds between 39-73 mph and have more organization of thunderstorms into rainbands that start to coalesce around a forming eye," Brian Tang, an associate professor of atmospheric science at the University at Albany, New York, told Newsweek.
While Twelve—which will be named Kirk once it reaches tropical storm strength—is heading in the direction of the U.S., forecasters cannot tell exactly where it will make landfall, if at all.
This storm comes after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc across the U.S. Southeast, claiming nearly 100 lives, according to The Associated Press. After Helene, the two other named storms were Tropical Storm Isaac, a past hurricane that is moving east across the Atlantic in the direction of the British Isles, and Tropical Storm Joyce, which has now weakened back to a tropical depression.
Helene was a Category 4 hurricane when it made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region on September 26, where it brought intense 140 mph winds and extreme storm surges to coastal communities. The hurricane then moved inland across Georgia and Tennessee, bringing huge volumes of rainfall and triggering catastrophic flash flooding across North Carolina. Over 30 people have been killed in a single North Carolina county as a result of the floods, and hundreds more are reported missing.
"This is the most significant natural disaster that any one of us has ever seen," Ryan Cole, an emergency official in Buncombe County, told local news station ABC11.
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