ORLANDO, Fla. — The National Hurricane Center on Friday forecast a wet weekend as one system approached Florida while increasing the odds a second system in the Atlantic could form into the season’s next tropical depression or storm.

As of the NHC’s 8 a.m. tropical outlook, the system off Florida’s east coast was a weak area of low pressure that had formed near the central Bahamas along the remnants of a frontal boundary.

“This system is expected to meander near Florida and the Bahamas for the next several days,” forecasters said. “Strong upper-level winds are expected to prevent significant development of the low, however the combination of the disturbance with the broader remnant boundary are still expected to produce heavy rainfall across portions of Florida and the Bahamas through the weekend.”

The NHC kept the system’s chances to develop low, with only a 10% chance in the next two to seven days.

The National Weather Service in Melbourne issued a flood watch for the eastern Central Florida counties through Sunday.

High tides may bring waters 1-2 feet higher than normal with flooding of low-lying roads near the shore likely, the NWS stated.

With a series of swells sent since last week from hurricanes Humberto and Imelda, the beaches should continue to get waves of 5 to 8 feet along with moderate beach and dune erosion as the NWS issued a high surf advisory coupled with a high risk of rip currents at all local beaches through the weekend.

A small craft advisory was also in effect with 8- to 10-foot waves near shore and 10-12 feet offshore.

“While most areas will see less than 2 inches of rain, rainbands with highly efficient rain rates will be capable of localized 3-5 inches,” NWS forecasters said. “Confidence where these locally higher rainfall amounts will occuris low, but there has been a fairly consistent signal for the coast south of the Cape today, shifting northward to include most of the coast Saturday.”

As the low-pressure area develops, it could increase the extent of heavy rain especially on Saturday.

“Areas where soils are reaching saturation from previous heavy rainfall will have higher sensitivity to flooding, particularly coastal Volusia and portions of the Treasure Coast,” forecasters said,

Flooding inland is already a risk.

“On the St. Johns River, Astor is already flirting with moderate flood stage (3.0 ft) and heavy rainfall should cause rises on other sections of the basin such as Cocoa and Geneva,” forecasters said.

The NHC was also tracking a tropical wave expected to move off the coast of Africa on Friday.

“The wave is forecast to interact with another disturbance over the eastern tropical Atlantic, and then move westward after that,” forecasters said. “Environmental conditions are expected to become conducive for some slow development of the system in a few days, and a tropical depression could form near or east of the Lesser Antilles by the end of next week.”

The NHC increased the odds for formation to 40% in the next seven days.

If either system were to develop, they would become the 10th tropical cyclone of the 2025 season, and could become Tropical Storm Jerry. After that, the next name on the list would be Karen.

Hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

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