Larry became the season's third major hurricane in the central Atlantic this weekend, and forecasters are watching two other areas of interest for possible development. However, none of them are expected to become a threat to Florida through the holiday weekend.
Hurricane Larry was located nearly 1,140 miles east of the Leeward Islands on Saturday morning and forecast to intensify into a powerful category 4 storm this weekend. Maximum sustained winds as of Saturday morning reached 115 mph. Steering currents are likely to take Larry on a more northwestward course by Sunday or Monday, then more northerly by early next week. This should keep Hurricane Larry far removed from any land masses on its journey and is not expected to become a threat to the United States.
A tropical wave behind Larry, just west of Africa, has a small window of opportunity for tropical development in the next 48 hours, but thereafter atmospheric conditions are expected to become unfavorable for the system to organize.
Showers and thunderstorms around a broad area of low pressure near Nicaragua are also being monitored closely by the National Hurricane Center for possible development, although those chances remain "low" as of Friday evening. Interactions with land and strong winds aloft are likely to prevent this disturbance from becoming a significant tropical entity over the next five days as it moves northwest and crosses the Yucatan Peninsula.
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