Jason Delgado
Tropical Depression 11 is forecasted to develop into Tropical Storm Josephine on Wednesday, becoming the tenth named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.
As of 10 a.m., the National Hurricane Center placed the tropical depression roughly 1,405 miles east-southeast of the Northern Leeward Islands and traveling west toward the Caribbean at 15 mph.
The NHC also reported the system was producing maximum sustained winds near 35 mph with higher gusts.
The northwest motion of travel is forecasted to continue throughout the rest of the week, moving the storm’s projected path further out into the Atlantic and away from Florida. One path projected by the South Florida Water Management District, however, threatens a possible landfall over the Carolinas.
Tropical Storm Josephine comes as the most recent storm since the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration upgraded the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane season outlook from “above-normal” to “extremely active.”
The updated outlook forecasts 19 to 25 named storms this season, seven to 11 of which would likely become hurricanes. The outlook also calls for three to six of those storms to develop into major hurricanes before November.
Thus far, the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season has seen nine named storms. Typically, however, only two named storms form by early August and a ninth named storm would not develop until October.
“This is one of the most active seasonal forecasts that NOAA has produced in its 22-year history of hurricane outlooks,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.
The “extremely active” hurricane season has prompted emergency management officials to modify existing emergency response to consider the COVID-19 pandemic.
Florida narrowly avoided landfall from Tropical Storm Isaias earlier this month, prompting Gov. Ron DeSantis to describe the state’s emergency preparations as a “good trial run” for the state’s new COVID-19-considerate sheltering strategy.
The new strategy includes temperature screenings, PPE kits and non-congregate sheltering alternatives for those with COVID-19 or experiencing COVID-19 like symptoms.
