Subtropical System To Form Over Weekend Near Northern Bahamas

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - An area of low pressure has begun to form Thursday morning south of the Florida Keys and is moving slowly northeastward toward the northern Bahamas.

With the low-pressure area, showers and thunderstorms with gusty winds have been increasing. Some of the storms are bringing heavy downpours to Cuba and the Florida Keys. These storms will gradually spread north into South Florida mainland Thursday afternoon and Friday.

As the low-pressure system moves toward the Bahamas on Friday it will begin to take on tropical characteristics with strong winds and the heaviest storms starting to consolidate toward the center of the system. This process, known as "tropical transition," will continue and a tropical or subtropical depression or storm is expected to form as the system is near the northern Bahamas this weekend.

For South Florida, because the tropical transition is likely to occur over the Bahamas as the system moves away from us, no direct impacts are expected. However, gusty storms with heavy downpours, and the possibility of flooding will increase into Friday before the weather rapidly improves over the weekend.