Hurricane center ups the odds of development for Caribbean system

ORLANDO, Fla. — The National Hurricane Center is observing a Caribbean system it expects to develop into the next tropical depression or storm sometime this week.

The system, which was first identified Sunday evening, is associated with a surface trough of low pressure and has a 10% chance of developing into a tropical depression or storm in the two days and a 40% chance in the next five days, according to the NHC’s 2 p.m. Eastern time update.

Meteorologists expect the development to slowly occur over the southwestern Caribbean Sea by the middle of the week. It is expected to drift near the coasts of Nicaragua and Honduras and move northwest.

If the system develops into a tropical storm, it will be the second named storm of the year, receiving the name Bonnie. Earlier, the first storm of the year developed into Tropical Storm Alex, which formed from the remnants of the first Pacific storm of the year Hurricane Agatha, which passed over Mexico and into the Caribbean. After, the remnants shaped into what specialists called Tropical Cyclone 1. It later pushed large flood waters through South Florida while passing through the state and developed into Alex on June 5 after TC1 moved into the western Atlantic and soon fizzled away.

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