Twin Tropical Waves Sweep The Atlantic As Rough Seas Build Across The Caribbean
Twin Tropical Waves Sweep The Atlantic As Rough Seas Build Across The Caribbean
Matt Rife Sun, September 13, 2026 at 8:03 PM UTC
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National Hurricane Center
Two active tropical waves are tracking west across the central Atlantic Ocean today, bringing clusters of thunderstorms and shifting marine conditions across open waters.
Meteorological data and satellite tracking place the leading wave along longitude 43 West, south of 16 North. It is traveling westward at roughly 20 knots and kicking up scattered moderate to isolated strong thunderstorm activity across a wide swath of the deep tropics, between 38 and 45.5 West.
A second tropical wave is following directly behind along 48 West, south of 17 North, pushing west at 15 to 20 knots with lighter, isolated rain showers in its path.
Further south, the Intertropical Convergence Zone and monsoon trough are driving additional bursts of strong storm activity between West Africa and the Lesser Antilles, adding to the unsettled wave action across the tropical Atlantic belt. Across this zone south of 23 North, open-ocean trade wind swells are running 4 to 6 feet, while calmer waters of 4 feet or less sit further to the north.
Rip Current, Red Flag (File)
The wave action extends well into the Caribbean Sea, where strong atmospheric pressure differences are creating heavy ocean chop.
Near-gale-force easterly winds are driving rough to very rough seas across the central Caribbean basin, conditions expected to hold for several days. Wave heights have reached 4 to 7 feet in both the Windward Passage and the Gulf of Honduras, while moderate waves dominate the eastern Caribbean.
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Looking ahead, ocean conditions will deteriorate further north. While the Gulf of America is currently seeing wave heights of 3 to 5 feet in the west and calm conditions elsewhere, a stronger high-pressure system moving down from the eastern United States will bring rough seas to the northern Gulf from Wednesday into Thursday night.
Stronger winds will also push a cold front into the western Atlantic by Tuesday, churning up rough waters north of the Bahamas through the middle of the week.
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Twin Tropical Waves Sweep The Atlantic As Rough Seas Build Across The Caribbean
Source: “AOL Breaking”
