The Atlantic has been pretty quiet so far this tropical season, but that may be about to change. A low pressure center now located along the border of Georgia and Tennessee is expected to slowly drift south over the eastern Gulf of Mexico in the next few days. The warm water there could lead to the development of a tropical depression or even a tropical storm by late in the week, although there is a lot of uncertainty with this forecast since it is almost a week out. The circulation is expected to start moving northeast by Thursday and Friday.

This is by no means a Hurricane Michael scenario–the most likely impact is expected to be some heavy rain of up to several inches, especially in the Florida panhandle and west coast of the peninsula as well as southern AL, GA, and along the East Coast as the storm gets pushed to the northeast over the weekend. If you have outdoor activities planned for Thursday through Sunday and you live in northern Florida, southern Georgia or along the East Coast, you will want to follow the updates carefully to find out what the path and strength of the storm are, or if it just stays as a weak center of rain. I don’t think wind will be a big factor in this storm, although there could be some strong gusts in bands of associated thunderstorms, but nothing on the order of Michael. You can read more at Weather Underground here.