Invest 98L monitored for development as Rafael churns through Gulf of Mexico

Tropical Storm Rafael continuing to weaken

By the start of next week, FOX 13 Meteorologist Valerie Mills says the remnants of Rafael will be all that's left of the storm. There is one other area near Florida that’s being watched but the system only has a 10% chance of developing over the next 7 days.

TAMPA, Fla. - With only a few weeks left in the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, tropical activity is heating up once again.

Tropical Storm Rafael remains swirling in the Gulf of Mexico after making landfall in western Cuba Wednesday.

To the east of Rafael, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) is still monitoring another area for possible development in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean as the countdown to the end of hurricane season begins.

Invest 98L in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. (FOX Weather)

That disturbance has been designated Invest 98L by the NHC, but it still has dim prospects for survival.

"The disturbed weather we’ve been watching over and near the northern Caribbean islands is being caused by a weak tropical disturbance and a large upper-level low pressure system," FOX Weather Hurricane Specialist Bryan Norcross. "Nothing is likely to come of the combo system. The National Hurricane Center gives it a very low chance of organizing into a tropical depression."

But the NHC says regardless of development, locally heavy rains are possible across the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and the southeastern Bahamas through Saturday.

The disturbance will arrive in South Florida late Sunday or Monday, "but it will be so dried out by then that it’s not likely to bring much beyond a few showers," Norcross said.

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