Your Latest Florida Weather Information

Hi everybody. It is quite rare to be tracking a hurricane in the tropics given the time of year. Rare as it it is, wea are tracking a hurricane that is still getting stronger with dropping pressures. The models are in decent agreement that the system will drift north over the next 24 hours. The cyclone will then turn more to the northeast and cross Cuba as a hurricane, possibly major. The sytem will then cross the Central Bahamas and weaken. This is the scenerio that is most likely. A couple of models actually take the system west where weakenning would occur. This is not the most likely prospect, however. Most of the models are showing a well organized cyclone when Paloma crosses Cuba. That is not good news for the island nation as they have been slammed with storm after storm this season. The Bahamas have had their share of storms also.

Paloma has rapidly intensified over the past 24 hours by 34 knots. The current forecast calls for this rapid intensification mode to end in about 24 hours. Paloma has a very impressive outflow pattern and is in an area of low verticle shear. After crossing Cuba, the shear is expected to increase and that combined with the passage over Cuba will help to weaken the system. That will be good news for the Central Bahmas as Paloma enters THe Atlantic.

You can view the latest track and model graphics at Storm2008.net.