Heat, showers expected as officials monitor tropics

The summer heat and rain patterns continue locally while officials monitor tropical systems in the Atlantic Ocean.

Thursday will be another hot day, with a high near 92 and a heat index as high as 100. Showers and storms are expected in the afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

More moisture back will be in the atmosphere Thursday with lighter winds, creating a higher coverage of storms, according to Bay News 9 meteorologists.

The National Weather Service expects scattered thunderstorms to develop in the afternoon, a pattern which should be expected every day through the middle of next week.

Hurricane Gert continues to move through the Atlantic Ocean, moving east-northeast at 39 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Gert’s maximum sustained winds have decreased to 100 mph, and the hurricane is expected to weaken even more, likely to lose its tropical characteristics by Thursday night, according to the NHC. Bay News 9 meteorologists note it will not have an impact to land.

Officials are still tracking three other disturbances in the Atlantic.

Showers and thunderstorms showing what could become a low pressure system about 550 miles east of the Lesser Antilles has the potential to become a tropical depression, according to the NHC. Officials give it a 60 percent chance of forming into a cyclone in the next 48 hours.

A second low pressure area about midway between the coast of Africa and the Lesser Antilles is also still producing storms and development is possible in the coming days, according to the NHC. It’s been given a 40 percent chance of forming into a cyclone in the next 48 hours.

Officials are also watching a tropical wave near the Cabo Verde Islands that is producing storms, officials give this a nearly zero percent chance of forming into a cyclone in the next 48 hours, according to the NHC.

This story was originally published August 17, 2017 at 7:39 AM with the headline "Heat, showers expected as officials monitor tropics."