Meteorologists are sounding the alarm because there is a high risk of tropical turbulence in the Gulf of Mexico next week, which could impact Florida, Texas and several other states along the Gulf Coast.

Earlier this year, weather experts warned of the high probability of an above-average hurricane season, citing the El Niño climate pattern and unusually high sea surface temperatures. Yet through mid-September, there had only been seven named storms originating in the Atlantic, the most recent being Tropical Storm Gordon, which weakened to remnants at sea without reaching land.

The next named storm will be Helene. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has been tracking two disturbances in the Atlantic since Thursday – the remnants of Gordon, which has a 30 percent chance of forming in the next two days, and another with a 10 percent chance of forming. Several meteorologists have expressed concern that another possible system could develop in the southern Gulf of Mexico or western Caribbean next week.

AccuWeather released a report Thursday about a possible storm system brewing in the northwestern Caribbean and the south-central and southwestern Gulf of Mexico.

“There is a chance that a tropical storm that forms in this area could strengthen into a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico,” Dan DePodwin, senior director of AccuWeather Forecasting Operations, said in the report. “Historically, a storm moving north from the Caribbean at this time of year not only strengthens, but often strengthens quickly. In the past, major hurricanes have developed in similar situations.”

AccuWeather meteorologist Isaac Longley said Newsweek that there is an area of ​​low pressure that provides favorable conditions for a storm to develop. Given low wind shear and high sea surface temperatures, Longley said the system is likely to develop by the middle of next week.

The path of the storm is uncertain and no official forecasts were available as of Thursday evening.

AccuWeather included a graphic with the report showing the historical risk of storms developing in the same area monitored by meteorologists. The central Gulf Coast states – Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama – have the greatest risk of landfall, with a 38 percent chance. Texas has a 14 percent chance, Florida has a 17 percent chance. There is a 10 percent chance the storm will move eastward through the southwestern Atlantic, and a 21 percent chance it will move westward and hit Mexico or Central America.

If the potential storm were to hit the central Gulf Coast states, it would be another blow to the region. Hurricane Francine hit Louisiana on September 11 as a Category 2 storm, causing widespread flooding, power outages and destructive wind speeds in the already fragile coastal region.