The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is tracking a disturbance in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico that could move toward the Florida Panhandle and other parts of the northern Gulf Coast later this week.
The system, designated AL92, had a 90% chance of developing into a tropical cyclone within 48 hours and over the next seven days, according to the NHC’s Oct. 6 outlook.
Forecasters said showers and thunderstorms associated with a broad area of low pressure were becoming better organized, and a tropical depression could form within about a day as the system moves generally eastward.
The NHC expects the disturbance to eventually turn north or northeast toward the northern Gulf Coast. The agency specifically advised interests from the Florida Panhandle westward to Louisiana to monitor the system.
It remained too early Tuesday to determine whether the disturbance would make landfall in Florida or what specific impacts the state could experience. The NHC had not issued a Florida landfall forecast, and the system had not yet strengthened into a tropical depression or named storm.