Tropical Storm Rafael Will Form This Week
Image: NASA
The Climate Adaptation Center—which will hold its fourth annual Florida Climate Conference on Nov. 14-15—has been issuing meteorological updates throughout the 2024 hurricane season. Here’s the latest about potential Storm Rafael from meteorologist and CAC founder and CEO Bob Bunting,
After three hurricanes this season—including a direct hit by Milton, a Category 3 storm at landfall—I'm sorry to say that more storms will be taking shape. Storm Rafael and Storm Sara will form in the Caribbean in the coming days, and the Suncoast will likely have some impacts from Rafael by Wednesday or Thursday.
Rafael will form in the next 24 hours or so, in the southwest Caribbean off the coast of Central America, then head north over eastern Cuba and into the eastern Gulf of Mexico. I expect the storm to remain offshore and then maybe turn northwest into the Gulf of Mexico just as it reaches Sarasota's latitude. We could see impacts from rain bands and tides as Rafael passes off the coast either as a strong tropical storm or Category 1 hurricane.
Because a center has yet to form, we will have to watch closely because the closer the storm gets, the more the risk of coastal flooding increases. Stay tuned to our tropical updates as this latest storm takes shape.
Bob Bunting is a scientist, entrepreneur and educator, and the CEO of the nation’s first Climate Adaptation Center (CAC), headquartered in Sarasota. The Climate Adaptation Center is an expert resource to inform government, academe, the private sector and philanthropy so they can create the necessary adaptation strategies and actions to protect the Florida way of life and foster the climate economy while larger global solutions evolve to solve the climate problem. Its fourth annual Climate Conference takes place Nov. 14-15. Contact Bob at [email protected] for more information.
