Tropics update: New disturbance threat puts Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean on alert

Caribbean shows potential tropical development

The FOX 35 Storm Team is monitoring two zones for potential tropical development. The first is in the Southern Caribbean, where there’s a 30% chance of a system forming in the next seven days. While models vary on the possible strength and path of the storm, warm ocean temperatures in the region could lead to rapid development if a system forms. The second zone, in the central Atlantic, has a 50% chance of forming within the week but is expected to remain in open waters, posing no threat to the U.S.

A potential disturbance in the Caribbean Sea is being monitored by the National Hurricane Center to see if it develops into a tropical system on its way toward the Gulf of Mexico.

According to its latest advisory, the NHC said a broad area of low pressure could form later this weekend or early next week over the western and northwestern Caribbean Sea. Currently, It has a 30% chance of further development, a 10% increase on Wednesday.

"Thereafter, some slow development of this system is possible through the middle of next week while it moves slowly to the north or northwest over the northwestern Caribbean Sea or the southeastern Gulf of Mexico," the NHC said.

At this point, it is not a tropical wave, tropical depression, tropical storm, or hurricane. However, it's a system that the FOX 35 Storm Team is watching because as it approaches Cuba, it appears that conditions in that area of the Caribbean – warm sea temperatures and low wind shear – could allow this potential system to quickly develop.

To be clear, however, it's too early to predict anything further, which is why the FOX 35 newsroom is monitoring every advisory and update from the National Hurricane Center.

Goodbye, Tropical Storm Gordon? Not quite yet.

Tropical Storm Gordon has been ripped apart in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. However, there is a chance that it could develop into a tropical depression or storm again over the next few days.

"This system is forecast to interact with a non-tropical low to its northwest while moving north-northeastward at 5 to 10 mph during the next couple of days.

Environmental conditions could become more conducive for development later this week, and a tropical depression or storm could re-form in a few days while the system moves slowly northward over the central subtropical Atlantic,' the NHC said.