SAVANNAH, Ga. () – Scattered storms continue this weekend as a cold front moves through. Expect a cloudy sky along with around normal temperatures in the low to mid 80s. The front stalls off out coast tomorrow before we begin to track the tropics.

As of the 8am NHC update, Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine has 35 mph sustained winds with a minimum pressure on 1007 mb. It is moving very slowly at 8 mph to the northwest at this time. The P.T.C. designation is due to the likelihood of this system becoming a tropical depression or tropical storm sometime today. Tropical storm watches and warnings have been issued for the Bahamas. Many of the global and hurricane models are coming into agreement on this system moving toward the southeastern U.S. coast by early next week and then being pulled out to sea by Hurricane Humberto.

The official forecast path from the NHC calls P.T.C. Nine to become Tropical Depression Imelda on Saturday. It is forecast to become a tropical storm on Sunday and a hurricane on Monday or Tuesday. Although it looks like the models are leaning more toward Humberto pulling this storm back to sea, impacts are still possible along the Coastal Empire and Lowcountry for Monday through Wednesday of next week. These impacts could include strong wind, tornadoes, minor coastal flooding, inland flooding from prolong heavy rainfall, and coastal concerns like storm surge, high surf, and rip currents. The forecast for the magnitude of expected impacts will change as we get a better handle of the size, path, and the speed of the foreword speed of the storm which will come within the coming days.

Hurricane Humberto is a category 4 major hurricane as of 8 am this morning. Humberto has 145 mph sustained wind with a minimum pressure of 940 mb. It is also moving very slowly west at 7 mph. It is forecast to become an even stronger cat 5 hurricane over the next day or so as it moves generally toward Bermuda. Humberto should stay well east of the U.S. and just west of Bermuda early next week. It will then begin to turn northeastwardly by Wednesday, avoiding making landfall in Bermuda. As Humberto strengthens, it is likely to pull future Imelda with it back out to sea. But, we will continue to watch and update as more information comes in.