(CNN)June 1 is the official start to Atlantic hurricane season, but a weather system forming now may make this the sixth straight year with a tropical system forming before that date.
“Gradual development is still expected, and the system is likely to become a tropical or subtropical depression or storm on Saturday while it passes the northwestern Bahamas,” the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
There is an 80% chance the system forms into a named storm system by Sunday evening, the NHC says.
Regardless of if it gets a name or not, the storm will bring periods of heavy rainfall to parts of the Florida Keys, southeastern Florida, and the Bahamas, through Saturday.
A flash flood warning was in effect for northern Miami-Dade County in southeastern Florida until 1 a.m. ET. Almost 1.5 inches of rain fell Friday in Miami, the National Weather Service said.
Tropical-storm-force wind gusts are also possible across the system.
“Dangerous surf conditions and rip currents are possible along portions of the southeast US coast this weekend and early next week,” the NHC says.
If and when the named storm forms, most forecast models keep the storm just off the southeastern coast before curving it back out farther into the Atlantic.
Areas of the Pacific Ocean have also had an interesting start to their tropical season. On April 25, Tropical Depression ONE-E formed south of Mexico’s Baja California region, marking the first tropical depression on record in the month of April for the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
This is quite the contrast to the Western Pacific, which just had its eighth latest start to a tropical season since 1950.
