Forecasters are watching three systems in the Atlantic, including one that now has increased odds of strengthening into a tropical depression this week.
An area of low pressure about 500 miles southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands as of Tuesday morning has a 70 percent chance of developing over the next seven days and a 30 percent chance of formation in the next two days, according to the National Hurricane Center.
If it develops, it could become Cristobal, the third named storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season.
While this area is currently associated with limited showers and thunderstorms, "environmental conditions are forecast to become more conducive for development during the next couple of days, and a tropical depression will likely form during the latter half of this week," the NHC said.
The system is expected to strengthen as it moves west to west-northwest across the central tropical Atlantic.
While it's still too early to tell the system's exact impact on Florida, Fox 35 meteorologist Noah Bergren said in a video update posted to social media that it "should stay north of Puerto Rico."
He added, "But we're probably going to see Cristobal," likely sometime early next week.
By Tuesday or Wednesday, the system could be "a minimal hurricane" that could come close to Bermuda, Bergren said.
Fox 13's Paul Dellegatto noted in a social media post that while the system has "a good chance of becoming a named storm … it will more than likely head for the open Atlantic as it fights upper level shear."
Meanwhile, Denis Phillips, chief meteorologist for Tampa Bay 28, stressed the uncertainty about whether the system develops.
"[It] continues to be something to watch though model data is mixed on whether anything will actually form here due to shear and dust," he wrote in a social media post.
Though forecasters had been watching another system west of what could become Cristobal, a tropical wave producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms about 600 miles east of the Windward Islands, the NHC said this area has no chance of strengthening over the next week.
The system will likely hit a large area of dry air as it approaches the Windward Islands, hindering development, forecasters said.
Experts are also watching a third area, a trough of low pressure producing showers and thunderstorms several hundred miles northeast of Bermuda.
This area has just a 10 percent chance of strengthening over the next week, the NHC said. Some development of this system is possible during the next day or so while it moves eastward at around 20 mph across the central subtropical Atlantic. The system is forecast to reach cooler waters later this week, ending its chances of formation by Thursday.
"They're not going to do anything. They're not a concern," Bergren said, noting that wind shear and cooler waters will likely "kill them both off."
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