The tropics have suddenly turned crowded. Lately we’ve been following Gordon and Florence (those details in a moment) and now there could even be more activity brewing, beyond those two systems! South Florida, of course, had a brief brush with Tropical Storm Gordon as it formed near the Keys early Monday morning. The strengthening storm rapidly moved northward, through the Gulf, in a mere day and a half. Landfall for Gordon was late Tuesday evening along the central Gulf state region. The center of Gordon officially made contact with land around 11 pm as a 70 mile per hour tropical storm (by the Alabama and Mississippi state border). On Wednesday, the system will weaken and quickly lose tropical characteristics as rainy remnants spread northward. Meanwhile, Florence recently got a burst of energy. It’s over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and now a category 2 hurricane with 100 mile per hour winds. Hurricane Florence will continue tracking over the open waters with no land threatened over the next week or more. Perhaps the most vulnerable spot for the approach of Florence will be the island of Bermuda, but it’s far too early to speculate, at this point. Finally, a couple healthy waves will be worth following from the eastern Atlantic. One of them already has a “high” development chance (now south of the Cape Verde Islands). A second wave will also have a chance to form over the next week. These are obviously far away,almost 4000 miles from south Florida, on the other side of the ocean! We’ll have many more September days to see how they might advance across the Atlantic. By the way, since the tropics are now heating up, it’s important to focus on having a plan… just in case something were to form quickly and closer to home. The peak of the hurricane season is here, so this is an important time to refresh your preparations, especially should something develop rapidly.