(WKBN) – Tropical Storm Sara formed in the Caribbean Thursday. Will it have an impact on the United States?
The storm is already having impacts on Honduras and Nicaragua, with heavy rainfall and gusty winds. The satellite imagery below shows Sara churning in the Caribbean Sea.
Currently, Sara is on track to skirt along the eastern coast of central America, with wind speeds up to 50 mph.
Sara will be a very slow-moving storm that will bring flooding rain to these areas. The mountainous terrain combined with the rain will likely result in mudslides.
Eventually, the storm will weaken into a tropical depression before making landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula.
Will Sara impact the United States?
Earlier this week, the long-term forecasts for Sara were concerning for the United States. Many of them had the storm making landfall as a hurricane somewhere in Florida. However, the more recent data suggests that Sara will be much weaker when it impacts the United States.
Most of the model data just shows the remnants of Sara combining with an incoming storm system next week and bringing rainfall to the eastern United States.
Tropical systems can be tricky, so Sara will need to be watched once it re-enters the Gulf of Mexico next week, but major U.S. impacts are not expected right now.
