ORLANDO, Fla. — Don’t look now, but as Helene heads toward Florida as a Category 3 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center on Thursday flagged an area in the western Caribbean as a place to watch for possible future tropical development.

Hurricane officials said a low pressure area could form over the western Caribbean by the middle of next week.

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“Environmental conditions are expected to favor slow development as the system moves generally northwestward,” the NHC said.

On Thursday afternoon, the NHC said there was a 20% chance of tropical development over the next seven days.

Because the low-pressure system hasn’t formed yet, it’s too early to know many details, including how strong the possible system could get or where it could go – if it does form.

Meanwhile, Helene struck Florida on Thursday ahead of a planned landfall in the Big Bend area later that night.

Helene could unleash a “catastrophic” storm surge in northwestern parts of Florida as well as damaging winds, rainfall and flash flooding hundreds of miles inland across much of the southeastern United States, forecasters said.

The governors of Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia have all declared states of emergency in their states.