Special Features

Western Atlantic Gale Warning: A cold front will move off the Carolina and Georgia coast this afternoon. Expect fresh to strong S winds to become W to NW at near-gale to gale-force by late this afternoon into the overnight hours. Seas will follow and rise to between 8 and 11 ft by late tonight. As the cold front pulls farther southeastward into the western Atlantic and weakens, conditions will gradually improve on Friday.

Caribbean Sea Gale Warning: A tight pressure gradient between an Atlantic Ridge N of the Caribbean and a Colombian Low will cause near-gale to gale-force easterly winds along with 8 to 11 ft seas at the waters off Barranquilla through the early morning hours today. Afterward, both winds and seas should gradually subside through Friday morning.

Gulf of America Gale Warning: A strong cold front is moving into the NW Gulf, extending from SE Louisiana to near Brownsville, Texas early this morning, with fresh to strong winds and building seas behind it, gale-force winds in the coastal waters. The front will quickly reach from the mid-Florida Panhandle to just SE of Veracruz, Mexico this afternoon, then will stall and significantly weaken over the SE Gulf tonight into early Fri, dissipating Fri night.

For the gale events above, please read the latest High Seas and Offshore Waters Forecast issued by the National Hurricane Center at website - https: //www. nhc. noaa. gov/text/MIAHSFAT2. shtml and https: //www. nhc. noaa. gov/marine/offshores. php and refer to the latest local NWS Weather Forecast Office for more information.

Gale Warning E of 35W: The Meteo-France issued Gale Warning for the Agadir marine zone was in effect until 12/03 UTC. Please refer to the Meteo-France High Seas Forecast at website https: //wwmiws. wmo. int for more details.

Monsoon Trough Itcz

A monsoon trough enters the Atlantic through the coast and border of Guinea and Sierra Leone, then reaches southwestward to near 04N17W. The ITCZ continues from 04N17W across 00N25W to near the coast of Brazil at 03S39W. Numerous moderate to scattered strong convection is seen south of the monsoon trough S of 05N to the E of 16W. Scattered moderate to isolated strong convection is present near the ITCZ from 04. 5S to 03. 5N between 17W and 35W.

Gulf Of America

Please read the Special Features section above on a Gale Warning.

A strong cold front is moving into the NW Gulf, extending from SE Louisiana to near Brownsville, Texas early this morning, with fresh to strong winds and building seas behind it, gale-force winds in the coastal waters. An outflow boundary or pre-frontal trough is ahead of the front reaching from the western Florida Panhandle to the SE tip of Louisiana to Mexico near 24. 5N97. 5W with a line of scattered showers and thunderstorms associated with it. Special Marine Warnings are in effect for parts of the NE Gulf coastal waters. Meanwhile, a Dense Fog Advisory is once again in effect for the NE Gulf, for the Apalachee Bay waters to 60 nm offshore. Refer to your local NWS Weather Forecast Office for more details on both. Otherwise, a surface ridge extending southwestward from central Florida to just north of Tampico, Mexico is dominating the rest of the Gulf with gentle to moderate mainly SE-S winds and seas of 3-5 ft, except lower in the eastern Gulf coastal waters of Florida.

For the forecast, the front will quickly reach from the mid- Florida Panhandle to just SE of Veracruz, Mexico this afternoon, then will stall and significantly weaken over the SE Gulf tonight into early Fri, dissipating Fri night. Marine conditions will improve significantly early Fri through Sun as weak high pressure settles just N of the basin. Another cold front will move into the NW Gulf Sun night and reach the SE Gulf by Mon night. Strong to near gale-force winds will follow the front along with rough seas, with possible gales in the NW Gulf, and offshore Tamaulipas and Veracruz, Mexico Mon and Mon night.

Caribbean Sea

Please read the Special Features section above on a Gale Warning.

A robust trade-wind regime continues across much of the basin. Outside the Gale Warning area, fresh to strong ENE to E winds and seas of 7-9 ft are evident at the south-central basin. Gentle to moderate E-SE winds and 3-5 ft seas are noted at the northwestern basin and off the coast of Costa Rica. Moderate to fresh E-SE winds and seas at 6-8 ft prevail elsewhere in the Caribbean Sea, including the Gulf of Honduras, lee of Cuba, S of Hispaniola, and the Windward Passage. No significant convection is evident on satellite imagery.

For the forecast, the pressure gradient between a Bermuda High and a Colombian low will support fresh to strong trades across the central basin through this morning, gale-force just offshore Colombia until around sunrise. Moderate to fresh NE to E winds will also pulse near the Windward Passage, S of Hispaniola, and the Gulf of Honduras this morning. The high pressure will shift eastward today through Fri night, leading to fresh to strong winds becoming confined to the south-central Caribbean S of 13N during that time, while marine conditions gradually improve area- wide as the pressure gradient weakens. High pressure will build across the Atlantic to the N Sat night through Mon, leading to fresh to strong trades and building seas extending from the Tropical N Atlantic to the eastern and central Caribbean.

Atlantic Ocean

Please read the Special Features section above on a Gale Warning.

A cold front is moving through the SE United States and fresh to strong S-SW winds have developed ahead of it offshore northern Florida. Ridging extends from high pressure near the Azores through near Bermuda to near Cape Canaveral, Florida ahead of the incoming front. Gentle to moderate winds and 3-5 ft seas are noted N of 27N between 60W and 77W under the ridge. A persistent trough is near 53W to the N of 20N, drifting W with some isolated to widely scattered showers with it. Moderate to fresh NE-E trades dominate a large portion of the tropical Atlantic across the remainder of the waters W of 20W to the Caribbean Islands and the SE Bahamas. A tight pressure gradient remains over the waters off northern Africa with fresh to strong NE winds N of 25N and E of 20W. Associated seas of 8-11 ft are N of 22N and E of 30W, except locally higher off Morocco. Seas are 5-8 ft across the remainder of the open waters.

For the forecast west of 55W, the cold front will move offshore of NE Florida by this evening with fresh to gale-force winds and quickly building seas behind it Thu night. The front will then rapidly weaken and begin to stall as it reaches from near 31N71W to extreme S Florida Fri morning, then drift NW and dissipate Fri evening. High pressure ridging will then prevail across the northern waters Sat and strengthen Sat night through Mon, leading to fresh to locally strong winds and rough seas nearly basin-wide. The next cold front may move into the waters off Florida Mon night.

Posted about 2 hours ago by NHC Forecaster Lewitsky