COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Atlantic hurricane season officially begins June 1, but an area in the tropics is being watched for potential development today.
The area of concern is located just offshore of the southeast coast of Florida .
The National Hurricane Center gives the system a 80% chance of further development over the next two days.
An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft is currently enroute to investigate the disturbance.
Conditions are favorable for this disturbance to get a little stronger, a subtropical or even a tropical storm is likely to form Saturday.
A subtropical storm has some characteristics of a tropical storm, but it has a different structure. Its strongest winds are located farther from the center than a typical tropical storm.
Regardless of strength, the low will bring locally heavy rainfall and gusty winds to parts of southeastern Florida and the central and northwestern Bahamas over the next few days.
Life-threatening rip currents will also be possible along the coast of the Southeast this weekend and early next week.
If the storm gets strong enough, it will be called Arthur.
The storm is expected to move northeastward through Sunday and stay off the coast.
Early tropical and subtropical systems have been common over the last five years.
Early tropical activity does not mean it will be a busy season. However, seasonal outlooks have indicated this hurricane season may be more active than normal.
The NHC will issue its 2020 seasonal hurricane outlook next week