NBC 6’s Angie Lassman has the latest on what could be the first system to impact the area as early as this weekend.
Wednesday marks the first day of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season and forecasters are already preparing for the first system that could make landfall in Florida this weekend.
The National Hurricane Center reported an area of low pressure could develop near the Yucatan Peninsula partially related to the remnants of Hurricane Agatha.
Energy from the remnants of Agatha will continue to slide northeast toward the Gulf of Mexico and there is now a 80% chance that a tropical depression will form somewhere between the Yucatan and the southern half of Florida.
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If it develops into a tropical storm, which forecasters said is possible, it would be named Alex.
Computer models still show two solutions: The GFS is a southern track that is lower impact. The Euro is a northern track that is higher impact. Even though the GFS model has a weaker system that tracks to our south, it has been trending north and trending stronger, making it closer to the Euro forecast.
At this time, it looks like more a rain impact than a wind impact, but that rain could be very heavy on Friday and Saturday.
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It does seem as though Tropical Storm or even Hurricane Alex could form in the Atlantic after the system crosses Florida.
The 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season officially began Wednesday with researchers predicting an "above-normal" year and forecasters already keeping an eye on one system that could become the first named storm of the season.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's averages for the Atlantic hurricane season is 14 named storms and seven hurricanes. The average for major hurricanes is three.
Last month, NOAA released their predictions for this year, calling for an "above-normal" 2022 with 14-21 named storms expected.
