Tropical disturbance to bring uptick in downpours to Florida, Bahamas into midweek

A tropical disturbance will drift across Florida and the Bahamas with enhanced downpours and rough surf this week.

The feature, dubbed 92L, is a disorganized cluster of showers and thunderstorms located near the Bahamas. A continued track to the northwest is expected over the next few days.

The chance of 92L becoming the next tropical depression or storm of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season remains low during the first part of this week.

“Ninety-two L is expected to remain in a strongly sheared environment for the next several days,” AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski said. “Thus, the potential for further development looks low at this time.”

Wind shear, or the change in wind speed and direction with altitude, can prevent disorganized features from developing and shred apart mature tropical systems.

Locally drenching showers and gusty thunderstorms will spread northwestward across the Bahamas into Tuesday night.

Cuba is also likely to experience and uptick in shower and thunderstorm activity as 92L sweeps by to the north.

Thunderstorms associated with 92L will first reach southeastern Florida later Tuesday and Tuesday night and continue into Wednesday.

Enhanced surf and rip currents will progress northwestward with the storm. Boaters and beachgoers should exercise caution and heed all advisories.

Rainfall associated with 92L could be heavy enough to trigger flash and urban flooding.

A push of dry and cooler air scheduled to move across the Southeast late in the week could interact with 92L and further enhance torrential rainfall across the Sunshine State.

Motorists and airline travelers around Florida and the Bahamas should expect an increase in delays as thunderstorms develop and persist in the region.

"It is possible that 92L lingers near Florida and is then steered back out over the Atlantic late in the week or this weekend," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. "At that point, some development could occur."

Interests in Bermuda may want to monitor the progress of this system this weekend.

Even in the absence of a tropical storm, a persistent easterly flow will raise the risk of locally heavy surf and strong rip currents from eastern Florida to North Carolina during the latter part of this week and this weekend.

Should 92L beat the odds and strengthen into a tropical depression or storm, downpours, gusty winds and rough surf would be enhanced even more.

Outside of 92L, Harvey is the other feature of interest in the Atlantic Basin.

All interests along the western and central Gulf Coast should monitor the progress of Harvey as it is projected to take a turn to the northwest and strengthen after crossing the Yucatan Peninsula.

The next few weeks are historically the most active in the Atlantic Basin with the peak of hurricane season not until Sept. 10.

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