Could Tropical Storm Patty develop in Caribbean Sea after Halloween?

A new area to watch for tropical development has been highlighted by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in the southwestern Caribbean Sea.

For now, the odds of development are low over the next week, but the FOX Forecast Center believes those odds could increase as we move closer to the final month of the Atlantic hurricane season.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN FINAL WEEKS OF 2024 ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON

A broad area of low pressure is expected to develop over the southwestern Caribbean Sea around the middle of this week. That would coincide with the return of the Central American Gyre, which had a hand in creating hurricanes Helene and Milton, and more recently, Tropical Storm Nadine.

The outlook for an area to watch in the southwestern Caribbean Sea.(FOX Weather)

"Some gradual development is possible toward the end of the week and over the weekend when the system begins to drift northward or northeastward over the southwestern and south-central Caribbean Sea," the NHC wrote in its latest outlook.

WHAT IS THE CENTRAL AMERICAN GYRE?

Most of the time, these storms aren’t a threat to the U.S., but occasionally, a late-season tropical system can come out of the Caribbean and impact Florida or provide a glancing blow to the Eastern Seaboard.

The next storm to receive a name in the Atlantic Basin – which includes the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico – will be called Patty.

Elsewhere across the Atlantic Basin, the tropics are expected to remain quiet as we enter the final days of October and approach the start of November.

HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER

Nov. 30 will mark the final day of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.

The tropical weather outlook for the Atlantic Basin.(FOX Weather)

LINK: Get updates on the tropics and more at foxweather.com.