The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has been monitoring depression AL94 for about a week. If it strengthens into a tropical storm, it will be named Nadine and could threaten areas devastated by Hurricane Helene and Superstorm Milton in recent weeks.
However, WFLA hurricane forecaster Jeff Berardelli said the Gulf of Mexico is likely to stall the formation of major storms in the near future, thanks to a high-pressure system north of AL94's path.
"The Gulf of Mexico will be 'closed' for at least the next 10 days due to a high pressure area to the east of the US and a trough off the US east coast. If a tropical depression or tropical storm forms, it will be blocked, moving south or northeast," said forecaster Berardelli.
Meteorologist Chris Mulcahy also emphasized that although low pressure AL94 has the potential to strengthen, "a high pressure system will prevent this low from penetrating into the Gulf of Mexico, thereby eliminating the possibility of landfall on the coast of Florida or impacting the Carolinas."
The latest storm forecast from the US National Hurricane Center also said that low pressure AL94 has a "moderate chance", meaning a 40-60% chance of strengthening into a tropical depression this week.
The latest hurricane bulletin from the US National Hurricane Center says the potential new storm after Hurricane Milton in the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is currently "an area of low pressure located in the central tropical Atlantic Ocean" that is causing "scattered showers and thunderstorms."
The US National Hurricane Center forecasts that the system is expected to move west to west-northwest, with favorable environmental conditions for strengthening mid-to-late this week.
"A tropical depression could form as the system approaches or moves near the Leeward Islands later this week," the bulletin said.
Alex DaSilva, AccuWeather's chief hurricane forecaster, said earlier that the forecast team is "very confident that something will develop" from the AL94 depression, although the system is unlikely to directly impact the U.S. Instead, the storm will likely pass over Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica.
In addition to the system that has the potential to become Hurricane Nadine, the U.S. National Hurricane Center is also tracking a system that is producing showers and thunderstorms in the western Caribbean Sea. This low pressure system is expected to gradually strengthen as it continues to slowly move northwest over the ocean toward Central America.
"Regardless of how this system develops, locally heavy rain is possible in parts of Central America this weekend," the center said in its latest forecast.
