Fujiwhara effect: Storm could hit US after ‘dance’ with Hurricane Humberto

Hurricane Humberto has developed in the tropical Atlantic becoming the third hurricane of the season.

Although it will continue to strengthen, becoming a major hurricane over the next few days, its forecast track is unlikely to be much of a threat to land.

But it may still play an important role in determining whether or not the US gets hit by another low which could also develop into a hurricane next week.

This area of low pressure is bringing widespread thunderstorms to Haiti, Dominican Republic along with the Turks and Caicos Islands. These storms may bring some areas of flooding over the next few days.

This low is likely to develop into a tropical depression later on Friday and then into tropical storm ‘Imelda’ over the weekend as it moves into the Bahamas. It will be moving across some very warm seas with temperatures 1-2C above average, which it will draw its power from to potentially become a hurricane early next week.

At first Hurricane Humberto and the developing storm will be far enough apart to grow and move independently of one another, but Humberto is moving much more quickly and by early next week could be close enough to have a big influence on the developing storm’s track and potential strength.