Tropical Storm Elsa Forms in the Atlantic Ocean

Posted: July 1, 2021 2:51 pm

Elsa Makes History as Earliest Named E Storm

Tropical Storm Elsa formed early Thursday morning in the Atlantic Ocean, becoming the fifth tropical storm of the 2021 season.

Current Statistics: By the middle of the day Thursday, Elsa was churning in the waters located about 680 miles east-southeast of the Windward Islands. The tropical storm is currently packing maximum sustained winds of about 45 mph as it moves in a westerly direction at a swift clip of 28 mph.

Forecasters expect that the storm will turn to the west and the northwest on Thursday as the system continues to push into the Caribbean Sea over the week. Because of the current projected path, a tropical storm warning has been issued for Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, and Martinique. In addition, the National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a tropical storm watch for Guadeloupe and Grenada.

Hurricane Potential

Elsa has all of the makings of a hurricane. If she does intensify to that category of storm, Elsa would be the first hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic season. Elsa is moving into some of the warmest waters of the Atlantic, raising the potential that it develops into a full-blown hurricane in the coming days.

Elsa will also likely be greeted with low wind shear and high amounts of moisture with its current trajectory. These factors will provide conditions conducive to further intensification.

The temperature of the ocean water is not the only factor at play with the potential of further intensification. The position of additional non-tropical systems in the area of Elsa will also have an effect on how well she is able to stay organized.

Concerns Over Elsa and Rescue Situation

There is growing concern that the effects of Elsa may hamper the search and rescue operation happening in Miami. Officials working the condo collapse in Surfside expressed their concern that the potential of incoming tropical storm conditions could put a wrench in the fight to locate any potential survivors of last week’s devastating condo collapse.

While it is still too early to predict with certainty where Elsa will head next, most models show the storm skirting the Gulf Coast of Florida by early next week. Even if the storm does not make a direct hit on South Florida, the outer rain bands and wind gusts could affect a large portion of the state.

Quickly Developing Tropical Feature

It did not take long for Elsa to develop into a named storm. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami began watching this system earlier in the week, calling it the 97L. By early Wednesday evening, the storm had been labeled the Potential Tropical Cyclone Five (PTC 5). Just a few hours later, the feature was upgraded to Tropical Depression Five.

Making History

With its development on July 1, Tropical Storm Elsa is the earliest storm with the name beginning with an E in history. Elsa beat out Edouard from July 6, 2020. Experts at the NHC are expecting another active season this year.

Latest on 95L

95L is an additional disturbance on the radar of the NHC. This disturbance is actually positioned in front of Tropical Storm Elsa. However, unlike Elsa’s intensification process, 95L weakened a bit on Wednesday. This weakening is being blamed on the presence of wind shear and dry air in its path. 95L also encountered the usual dust cloud from the Sahara Desert as it made its way through the Lesser Antilles on Wednesday. This dust typically serves to break up tropical events.

The next name up on the list is Fred.

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