Hurricane Kirk path tracker: Will it hit Florida?

Sliding across the central Atlantic is Hurrucane Kirk, and the storm is gaining strength as it potentially continues its journey towards the Florida coast, where people are bracing for a potential second impact in a short time.

Recently, Hurricane Helene made her mark in the Gulf of Mexico and caused devastation for those in the way; now, another potential tropical storm may be slides north north-west by the end of the week.

Will Hurricane Kirk hit Florida?

Local Florida news outlets say that the now Category 3 hurricane was, a couple of days ago, around 1,370 miles west-northwest of the Cabo Verde Islands and 1,140 miles east-northeast of the Lesser Antilles, and that it was producing maximum sustained winds of 125 mph which saw its status increased.

Fox365Orlando says that “hurricane-force winds extend up to 35 miles from the storm’s centre, while tropical-storm-force winds extend up to 220 miles”, adding that they “could impact parts of the Leeward Islands and Bermuda by the weekend, and Florida early next week”.

Tampa Bay Times cited forecasters who said that “Environmental conditions could support some gradual development of this system over the Gulf of Mexico this weekend while the system drifts eastward”, conlcuding that “the center gives it a 30% chance of development in the next seven days.”

And things don’t stop there: right behind Hurricane Kirk is Tropical Storm Leslie, which is expected to strengthen into a Category 2 hurricane by this week. However, despite the fact that Hurricane Kirk was “strengthening and forecast to grow larger,” according to the National Hurricane Center on Wednesday, adding that “Kirk is expected to become a large and formidable major hurricane”, the good news is that the former is not expected to hit landfall in the USA, instead turning northwards. up the Atlantic and missing the country’s coastline.

However, that is not to say that wild weather will not affect Florida: “this really looks like a threat of heavy rain and possibly a wind and surge threat, depending on storm strength, for Florida later next week,” AccuWeather meteorologist Bernie Rayno told USA Today. The National Hurricane Center has a live tracker which you can use to stay in the loop and follow the path of all major storms in the region.