NHC back to tracking 3 potential storms

The National Hurricane Center was back to keeping tabs on three systems with potential to form into the next tropical depression or storm, including the mass of swirling rain that drenched Florida on Thursday.

Only one of the three systems, far in the Atlantic, has a high chance to form, the NHC said in its 8 p.m. tropical outlook.

The disorganized showers and thunderstorms now off the coast of northeast Florida and Georgia are associated with a weak area of low pressure that crept in over the state Thursday prompting flood warnings in South Florida and storms all up the coast and into Central Florida.

While it won’t form into a storm, “the disturbance could bring locally heavy rainfall to portions of northeastern Florida, eastern Georgia, and eastern South Carolina during the next day or so,” forecasters said.

The system with the biggest chance to develop is a tropical wave located about halfway between the Cape Verde Islands and the Lesser Antilles.

Its shower and thunderstorm activity has increased since Thursday.

Environmental conditions are expected to be favorable for additional gradual development of this system during the next few days, and a tropical depression could form early next week while the system moves generally west-northwestward over the tropical Atlantic,” forecasters said.

Its projected path, though, has it remaining in the Atlantic curling to the north within a week.

The NHC gives it a 20% chance to form in the next two days, and 70% chance to form in the next seven days.

If it were to spin up into a named storm, it would become Tropical Storm Emily.

The NHC is also tracking a system in the far southwestern Caribbean near Central America with a low chance of formation.

The large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms are a mix of a tropical wave and broad area of low pressure.

It also has a 0% chance of forming.

“However, locally heavy rainfall is possible over portions of Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador during the next day or so,” the NHC said.