ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The National Hurricane Center is closely monitoring two disturbances — one in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean, and the other in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. One of these systems could impact parts of Florida.
The tropics are showing signs of activity as we near the end of the first official month of hurricane season. Earlier this week, the NHC began tracking a system that eventually became Tropical Storm Alberto, the season's first named storm. Thursday morning, Alberto made landfall on Mexico's Gulf Coast and quickly weakened to a tropical depression.
Elsewhere in the tropics, two systems have piqued NHC forecasters' interest.
Invest 92-L is a small area of low pressure producing disorganized thunderstorms in the Atlantic Ocean. The disturbance is located about 150 miles east-southeast of Jacksonville, Florida.
Right now, conditions aren't ideal for a system to form, but forecasters believe further development could lead to a brief tropical depression forming Friday as it approaches either the Florida or Georgia coast.
Currently, forecasters have a 60 percent chance of development over the next 48 hours and 60 percent in the upcoming seven days.
The second system the NHC is monitoring is a broad area of low pressure currently forecast to form Friday over southeastern Mexico and northern Central America on Friday.
Once the system moves over the Bay of Campeche on Saturday, forecasters believe environmental conditions will allow the system to develop gradually. If it does, it could develop over the weekend into a tropical depression over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. It's expected to slowly move west-northwestward or northwestward.
There's a 50 percent chance for development over the next two days but the chance increases to 60 percent over the upcoming week.
If a tropical depression or storm develops from either system, the next name on the list is Beryl followed by Chris.