Tropical depression likely to form off the Florida coast this week

Just east of the Florida Keys, there’s a system that meteorologists say could turn into a tropical depression.

For the moment, clouds and showers are extending over the northwest Bahamas and are set to move near the Florida Peninsula through Friday night, according to a tropical weather outlook from the National Hurricane Center.

Once the low pressure system moves from the east-central coast of Florida to offshore the southeast U.S. coast, it should probably form a depression. The center predicts that could happen as soon as this weekend or into early next week.

In fact, there’s a 70 percent chance it will form in the next five days, according to meteorologists.

“Regardless of development, locally heavy rains are possible over the northwestern Bahamas and southern and central Florida through the weekend,” the National Hurricane Center said in its outlook.

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This article appears in Best of Orlando® 2019.