Hurricane Wilma remains over Cancún as a new tropical depression forms southeast of Hispaniola. A trough with its associated low-pressure systems and fronts will bring chilly and raw conditions to much of the northeastern US.
Hurricane Wilma is a marginal Category 3 storm centered on the northeastern Yucatán Peninsula near the city of Cancún. Winds are 115 mph with higher gusts. She is moving slowly northward and expected to clear the Yucatán early this evening.
She is expected to hit southwest or west-central Florida early Monday morning. She will then move northeastward across the Florida Peninsula in a few hours; strike probabilities exceed 20% from Daytona south. The official NWS forecast track runs from Naples to just north of West Palm Beach, though people near and south of I-4 may find themselves under hurricane watches this afternoon or evening.
Behind Wilma, a new tropical depression has formed southeast of Hispaniola. It is expected to reach tropical storm strength this afternoon and make landfall near the Dominican Republic-Haiti border, then track northwest through Haiti and the southeastern Bahamas. 4-8 inches of rain is expected, with isolated falls of 12 inches. If/when its winds reach 39 mph, it will be called Tropical Storm Alpha and will set the record for most tropical storms in the Atlantic Basin. It is not expected to hit the US.
Wilma is currently expected to miss most of the East Coast, thanks to a strong, deep influx of cold air (a trough) over the eastern half of the US will. It will also keep the eastern half of the country considerably cooler than normal, set off lake-effect rain showers in some of the Great Lakes snowbelts and contribute to strong northeast winds near the Atlantic coast (with Wilma's help).
NOTE: If you are threatened by Wilma, please follow the directions of your local authorities and monitor weather updates given by professionals.
Yamaneko
(For what it's worth, I'm a met student right now, not a qualified meteorologist. Most of the information above is taken from NWS weather sites. I hope you find this diary useful and hope to post a similar diary daily concentrating on the most interesting weather. It should help me get a better understanding of the weather as well...)