The NBC2 First Alert Hurricane Tracking team is monitoring the western Caribbean Sea for the possibility of some tropical development within the next ten days.
The western Caribbean is a place we commonly need to to watch closely from late September through October as historically that is a hot spot for development during this stretch of the season.
Given the region's track record it's not surprising that a few long-range forecast models are signaling that an area of low pressure could form there next week.
We usually think of September as the statistical peak of hurricane season in the Atlantic basin, but there's also a secondary peak from late September through early October. This is when storms can form in the Caribbean and get scooped north by dips in the jet stream.
In fact, South Florida has been hit by more tropical systems in the month of October than any other month, though these storms are typically not quite as strong as those in August and September.
Hurricane Wilma was one of those late-season October storms, which made landfall in Southwest Florida on October 24, 2005 as a category 3 storm.
Based on tropical climatology, which looks back at the history of every hurricane season on record, the northwestern Caribbean and western Atlantic tend to be the hot spots for tropical development from late September into October.
So though there's nothing to track in the Caribbean right now, this is an area we'll need to continue to monitor closely until the hurricane season winds down in November.
The next storm name is Helene.
We'll keep you updated on NBC2 News.
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