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Tropical depression may form in Gulf of Mexico
FOX 13 Meteorologist Jim Weber is watching two areas of interest in the tropics. He has his eye on Invest 90L, which brought flooding rain to Sarasota and South Florida. It’s now working its way through the Atlantic. Weber says it is still a disorganized system and even if it does develop, it isn’t likely to do a whole lot as it is expected to remain over open water. He is also watching a tropical wave in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, which may become a tropical depression or tropical storm early next week. The first name on the 2024 hurricane list is Alberto.
TAMPA, Fla. - The season's first tropical depression could form this weekend or early next week.
That's because a broad area of low pressure is forecast to form over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico.
Conditions appear conducive for gradual development of this system, and a tropical depression could form during the early or middle part of next week while it moves westward or west-northwestward.
ALSO: Hurricane names 2024: Here’s why the list may look familiar
The low pressure that is heading into the Bay of Campeche has a 50 percent formation chance, the National Hurricane Center said in an update on Friday.
Meantime, satellite data and surface observations indicate that the low-pressure area offshore of the southeastern U.S. coast has become a little better organized since yesterday. However, upper-level winds remain strong, and the system is forecast to merge with a front over the western Atlantic on Saturday or Sunday.
Regardless of development, heavy rainfall is forecast to continue across portions of Florida through Saturday.
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