Storm trackers see an increased chance that a low-pressure system will increase in strength and affect Florida in the coming days.
The National Hurricane Center said Thursday morning that the system, which was near the Yucatan Peninsula and southeastern Gulf of Mexico, had an 80 percent chance of developing into a tropical system within 48 hours.
“Despite strong upper-level winds, this system is likely to become a tropical depression or tropical storm while it moves slowly northeastward over the northwestern Caribbean Sea and southeastern Gulf of Mexico during the next day or two,” the center said in a morning advisory.
Even if the system doesn’t strengthen to a tropical system, which would be named Alex if maximum sustained winds top 39 mph, the center said heavy rainfall is likely Friday across southern and central Florida and the Keys.
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The center has also been watching a second system that is about 200 miles northeast of the northwestern Bahamas.
But as that system slowly moves northeast away from Florida, the center gave it no chance of forming into a tropical system. The 2022 hurricane season started Wednesday.
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