Beta eyes Texas and Louisiana; Teddy and Wilfred spinning in the Atlantic

It’s time to get the Greek alphabet out! We’ve now gone through all of the names for the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season and are now onto “Beta” in the Greek alphabet.

Tropical Storm Beta formed Friday afternoon in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. As of 11 p.m. Saturday, maximum sustained winds are 60 mph.

The tropical storm is slowly moving to the N/NE at 2 MPH, but is expected to begin its westward turn, and will continue this track on Monday, before reaching the Texas coastline by Tuesday.

There is still plenty of uncertainty regarding the track, but the good news is Beta is not a threat to Southwest Florida.

Other than Beta, we also have Tropical Storm Wilfred and Hurricane Teddy. Neither storm will be a threat to Southwest Florida.

Wilfred is expected to be short-lived and will weaken over the weekend. From there, it will continue to weaken and is forecast to eventually dissipate over the central Atlantic by Monday evening.

Teddy is still a very strong hurricane, at Category 3 strength with 115 mph winds. It is currently moving to the northwest at 13 mph.

Teddy is expected to stay out in the Atlantic, but could bring some impacts to Bermuda beginning late Sunday into Monday.

While Teddy won’t have any direct impacts on Southwest Florida, it may have some beneficial indirect impacts! With Teddy moving northward and a cold front trying slowly moving through northern Florida, Teddy could eventually give the needed “push” for the cold front to push completely through Florida by late Monday on the backside of it’s circulation.

This would result in a less humid day Tuesday with lower than average dewpoints in the 60s… just in time for the Autumnal Equinox! In the meantime, we’ll keep our fingers crossed that this forecast verifies.