The National Hurricane Center designated a disturbance over the northwestern Caribbean Sea as Invest 97L on Sunday, giving the knot of showers and thunderstorms near Honduras an 80% chance of forming into something tropical over the next two days and a 90% chance over seven days.

Florida's Gulf Coast is bracing for the potential of a significant hurricane landfall later this week, as a possible tropical storm that could ultimately become Hurricane Helene is organizing in the Caribbean.