Named storm or not, the system heading to the Gulf of Mexico could start to bring heavy rain to Florida and potentially elsewhere by this weekend.

A tropical depression could form in a few days while a system of low pressure is over the southern Gulf of Mexico or northwestern Caribbean Sea.

For the third time in 13 months, this windswept stretch of Florida’s Big Bend took a direct hit from a hurricane, first by Idalia, then Category 1 Hurricane Debby in August 2024, and now Helene.

A new development on Florida’s coast was designed to be as hurricane-proof as possible. So far, it’s working. Last Thursday, when Hurricane Helene hit the small town of Cortez, Florida—about four hours south of the eye of the storm—a storm surge filled the streets with waist-deep water near a new development.

Florida could have a wet week ahead, whether the system swirling in the Caribbean forms into a storm or not. The National Hurricane Center is watching two disturbances with a chance of strengthening in the next week, including one that could form in the Gulf of Mexico.

Meteorologists are monitoring a disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico that will bring rain to the Florida peninsula later this week.

A tropical system stirring in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to douse portions of the Florida Peninsula and Mexico with rain, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Disorganized showers and thunderstorms associated with a surface trough,