Forecasters from the National Hurricane Center are keeping an eye on a tropical disturbance that has the potential to turn into a tropical depression or tropical storm that could take aim at Florida or other parts of the southeastern United States in the next week.
As of late Monday morning, the hurricane center says there’s a 50% chance that the disturbance brewing in the central tropical Atlantic will become more organized and develop into a tropical depression or named tropical storm within seven days.
If the system does develop, it has the potential to target Florida directly, veer west into the Gulf of Mexico or veer east along the Atlantic coast of the southeastern U.S., according to the hurricane center’s seven-day outlook.
The more immediate concerns among forecasters are the potential targets of Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Bahamas.
“An area of disturbed weather over the central tropical Atlantic Ocean is expected to interact with an approaching tropical wave during the next couple of days,” the agency said Monday morning. “Environmental conditions are forecast to become conducive for some development thereafter, and a tropical depression could form later this week while the system is in the vicinity of the Greater Antilles or the Bahamas.”
The Atlantic hurricane season has been relatively quiet during the past few weeks, with no named storms developing after an active period in June. The season, which officially began on June 1, has seen three named storms — Tropical Storm Alberto, Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Chris.
Beryl rapidly intensified from a tropical storm to a very strong hurricane, reaching Category 5 status with top sustained winds of 165 mph. The storm’s remnants combined with a frontal system and brought batches of heavy rain and thunderstorms to parts of New Jersey in early July.
The next named storm in the Atlantic will be called Debby.
