A Hurricane tracker has revealed the latest developments of storms ‘Nadine’ and Leslie that were brewing in the Atlantic before Milton hit Florida.
Nadine, a non-tropical area of low pressure system, formed just 650 miles off the state’s east coast earlier this week, sparking fears it could strengthen into a hurricane.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced Wednesday evening that the storm had diminished due to unfavorable environmental conditions.
Leslie, a tropical storm that formed off in the Caribbean, had been upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane as it travels northeast – a similar path as Hurricane Kirk.
There is no threat to land at this time, and there are no coastal warnings or watches in effect for Leslie.
Milton made landfall Wednesday evening, flooding entire streets, destroying homes and leaving millions without power as search and rescue teams battle the elements to save victims.
The Category 3 storm has now moved back out to sea where it will pushing deeper east into the Atlantic.
But meteorologists were also keeping an eye on two other storms – potential tropical storm Nadine and Hurricane Leslie.
Weather maps listed Nadine as Invest 93L as experts monitored the system.
The potential tropical storm was labeled ‘invest’ be cause it a weather system that is being monitored for potential tropical cyclone development.
And the ‘L’ indicated it was a low pressure system.
NHC reported a slight chance of 93L developing into Nadine over the next few days as it traveled just 15 miles per hour away from the Florida coast.
‘Some additional strengthening is likely today and tonight, followed by weakening through early next week,’ NHC shared in a statement.
But the agency announced late last night that ‘Nadine’ was no more.
AccuWeather lead hurricane forecaster Alex DaSilva told Newsweek: ‘There were a lot of hostile winds south of Bermuda, and the storm got ripped apart.
‘That’s why it was never able to develop into an organized tropical system.
Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday evening, but has since move east into the Atlantic
‘Maybe Milton could have imposed some additional wind shear.
‘Wind shear prevented that from becoming an organized tropical system.’
Leslie is churning away in the Saragossa Sea with sustained wind speeds of 90 miles per hour.
The hurricane is moving west-northwest at seven miles per hour with models showing it could turn northeast Friday and head east-northeastward over the weekend.
Floridians are now dealing with the aftermath of the deadly storm, with more than three million homes and businesses without power and the first casualties that were reported before it made landfall.
The NHC called the Category 3 hurricane ‘dangerous’ and ‘catastrophic’ after it hit sustained winds of 160 miles per hour when it made landfall late Wednesday evening.
Communities across the state were warned to evacuate as the western coast of the southern peninsula was expected to be leveled with at least 117 tornado warnings ravaging the area, with dozens reported to have materialized.
Leslie is currently a Category 1 hurricane moving northeast. The storm is not expected to make landfall
The full extent of Milton’s damage is still unknown, but reports and photos show extensive devastation, including yachts, sailboats and other vessels tossed onto land, downed power lines and homes turned to rubble.
‘We will better understand the extent of the damage as the day progresses,’ Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said.
‘We’ve got more to do, but we will absolutely get through this.’
Milton hit only two weeks after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region before moving inland and impacting North Carolina.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted as many as 25 named storms for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.
Milton is the 13th named storm of the 2024 season, which has seen four tropical storms and nine hurricanes so far.
