A Tropical Storm Could Impact Florida Next Week

After Hurricane Ian brought widespread devastation to Florida and beyond, we’ve been keeping an eye on the weather in the tropics for any potential disturbances that could impact your travel.

Tropical weather systems could still show up at Disney World!

Hurricane season lasts through the end of November — so we’re not out of the woods just yet. And now, it looks like another tropical system could form in the Atlantic soon that could potentially impact Florida.

The National Hurricane Center has forecasted a large, nontropical low pressure system will form sometime this weekend in the Caribbean Sea and southwest Atlantic Ocean, near Puerto Rico. A tropical system could threaten Florida within the next five days.

NHC forecasters told the Orlando Sentinel, “The system is initially expected to be very broad and disorganized, but it could begin to acquire subtropical or tropical characteristics by the end of the weekend.”

The forecasters went on to say that if a disturbance does form, it would move “generally northwestward or westward over the southwestern Atlantic.” As of 8AM on November 4th, the chance for a storm to form in the next five days was at 40%.

This potential threat could also impact NASA’s Artemis I mission scheduled to launch mid-November, though Weather Squadron Launch Officer Mark Burger commented that “at worst” the storm could bring sustained winds of 25-30 mph with gusts up to 45 mph. If a storm were to develop, it could become Tropical Storm Nicole.

Meanwhile, the NHC is monitoring Tropical Depression Lisa in the Gulf of Mexico with recent maximum sustained winds of 30 mph — but it’s not expected to impact Florida or the United States.