Tropical Depression 13 formed in the central tropical Atlantic late Wednesday, and Tropical Depression 14 formed Thursday morning.
Both systems remained tropical depressions Friday morning. However, Tropical Depression 13 has yet to form a cohesive center.
“Today we are in monitor mode. I do not have a call to action, other than we should always have a hurricane kit on hand,” meteorologist Brian Shields said.
We have two atlantic basin tropical storms this week. Predictions are that they will merge at some point near the panhandle of Florida.
To have two tropical systems in the Gulf, potentially making landfall near the same time is unusual and could lead to something that is even more rare – the Fujiwhara effect.
The Fujiwhara effect happens when two tropical systems come near, then orbit each other, or possibly merge into one system.
It is named for Sakuhei Fujiwhara, a Japanese meteorologist who first described the effect in 1921.