From May to June and from September to November, a large, relatively weak zone of low pressure settles over Central America, coinciding with the rainy seasons in that region. Of little consequence itself, this gyre may interact with tropical waves arriving from the Caribbean or from the South Pacific.
This interaction may produce tropical depressions which, under the right conditions, may develop into tropical storms. Of course, if wind shear does not intervene, these storms may then become hurricanes, either in the Gulf of Mexico or along the west coast of Central America.
This meteorological sequence is often responsible for Gulf of Mexico tropical storms and hurricanes that develop early and late in the Atlantic Hurricane Season (June to November). Typically, a tropical depression develops in the southwest Gulf of Mexico and moves northward; if high pressure has settled over the Gulf, suppressing wind shear, the depression becomes a tropical storm or hurricane as it moves across the warm Gulf waters. According to current forecasts, such a development may occur later this week.
