Rare December Tropical Disturbance Could Become Subtropical Storm With Impacts To Florida Possible

The Atlantic hurricane season ended on November 30, and Floridians breathed a sigh of relief as the state recovers from a busier than usual Hurricane Season that saw Hurricane Ian, and Hurricane Nicole cause significant, and deadly damage across the State.

Now though, a rare December tropical disturbance that formed days after the end of hurricane season is causing concern, with the National Hurricane Center saying today, Tuesday, December 6, that the chances of further development have increased.

The system is currently located several hundred miles northeast of the northern Leeward Islands.

The National Hurricane Center commented "Environmental conditions appear conducive for this system to acquire some subtropical or tropical characteristics while it meanders generally northeastward during the next few days."

Meteorologists believe that the tropical disturbance has a 50% chance of developing into a subtropical storm over the next five days.

If it does become a named storm, it would be called Owen, the 15th name on the list for the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season.

The good news is that Florida won't see wind from this tropical disturbance, but increasing East swell will be a concern along the east coast beaches from today through the coming weekend, with the risk of beach erosion propelled into the high range, on an already devastated coastal stretch of the state suffering from beach erosion.