Pablo poses no threat to the United States or Atlantic Canada, but it will bring some rain and gusty winds to the Azores over the weekend, and shipping in the area can be impacted. Image courtesy NOAA
A late-season tropical storm sprang to life on Friday over the Gulf of Mexico and was given the name Olga, the 17th-named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. And far out over the Atlantic Ocean, Tropical Storm Pablo formed late Friday afternoon and passed near the Azores on Saturday night.
Olga was a short-lived tropical storm as the system weakened to a tropical rainstorm off the coast of Louisiana on Friday night. Despite weakening, Olga will drench the Gulf Coast to the Ohio Valley and lower Great Lakes through Saturday as it moves northward.
The National Hurricane Center is no longer monitoring the storm.
The enhanced downpours could lead to numerous flooding incidents, even in areas experiencing long-term drought.
The last time a storm formed over the Gulf of Mexico this late in the season was when Juan took shape in 1985, according to Philip Klotzbach, a Colorado State University meteorologist.
Americans in the storm's path can expect copious amounts of rain and gusty thunderstorms northward from the central Gulf coast and the lower Mississippi and Tennessee valleys. Isolated tornadoes will be possible in portions of Mississippi and Alabama.
The AccuWeather RealImpact Scale for Hurricanes is less-than-one for this storm and is based on the amount of rain to fall over the South Central states with an AccuWeather Local StormMax of 8 inches.
A rapidly strengthening disturbance became Tropical Storm Pablo on Friday afternoon in the Atlantic Ocean near the Azores.
On Saturday night, Pablo passed just to the southeast of Santa Maria island in the eastern Azores and is now accelerating awayfrom the islands, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Pablo was about 245 miles east of the LaJes Air Base in Azores, according to the National Hurricane Center's 11 p.m. EDT Saturday update.
The latest update showed the storm moving northeast at 29 mph withsustained winds of 65 mph. The storm will shift north and northwest Sunday.
Pablo poses no threat to the United States or Atlantic Canada, but it will bring some rain and gusty winds to the Azores over the weekend, and shipping in the area could be impacted.
