Tropical Storm Gamma weakens as it moves over Yucatan Peninsula

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Tropical Storm Gamma made its way through the Yucatan Peninsula on Saturday.

It gained strength over Saturday but was not expected to impact the United States. It is also likely to fall apart after hitting the Gulf of Mexico waters again, meteorologist Zach Maloch said. Gamma strengthened from a Tropical Depression to a Tropical Storm on Friday.

As of Saturday’s 8 p.m. report from the National Hurricane Center, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph, down from a high of 65 mph earlier in the day, and was moving north at 9 mph. To become classified as a hurricane, a storm needs to have maximum sustained winds of 74 mph.

The storm brought showers and thunderstorms across Mexico on Saturday.

Around Monday, the storm will start to move west. WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Garner said that there will be front that will “hold” this systems down to the south.

There is a second disturbance near the Yucatan Peninsula. Another system has a 30% chance of developing over the next couple of days. Regardless of development, it will bring heavy rain and winds to Jamaica.

In the open Atlantic, there are two tropical waves WRAL is tracking. One near the Lesser Antilles has a small chance of developing.

October is typically a busy month in the hurricane season. Some notable hurricanes we’ve felt in the past during October are Hazel, Matthew, Michael, Sandy and Wilma.

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is already the second most active on record with 68 days left to go.