tropical storm | Lake Oconee Breeze

Tropical disturbance moving north toward eastern Gulf of Mexico

(RNN) – Hurricane season runs through the end of November, and this busy storm season may go the distance.

A National Hurricane Center 2 a.m. ET Saturday advisory said that a tropical disturbance moving north from the Caribbean toward the Gulf of Mexico has weakened slightly, but is expected to gain strength.

The advisory said the storm has maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, down from 40 mph at 11 p.m. ET. The system is forecast to gain strength and move faster during the next 48 hours.

The projected path for the disturbance places it over the island of Cuba on Saturday night, and east of the tip of Florida on Sunday morning.

No warnings are issued currently for the United States, but South Florida should monitor the storm, the NHC said.

The NHC issued a tropical storm warning for Cuba. The storm system will move across the western part of the island on Saturday and Sunday, and the government of the Bahamas also issued a warning for the northwestern Bahamas.

October and November storms are not unheard of. On Nov. 8, 2015, a tropical storm formed that accelerated into Hurricane Kate, a Category 1 storm by Nov. 11. The storm didn’t make landfall, however.

According to weather.com, most late season hurricanes form in the Gulf or in the Caribbean because the water hasn’t cooled down significantly, and the wind shear is weaker.

In the record-setting 2005 season, three tropical storms formed in the Atlantic.

Also that year, Tropical Storm Epsilon became a hurricane on Dec. 6. It was the 14th Atlantic Basin hurricane that year.

Tropical Storm Zeta formed Dec. 30 and lasted into the next year – dissipating on Jan. 6, 2006, but never threatened land.

Alice in 1954 was the first recorded hurricane to span two calendar years. Tropical Storm Zeta of 2005 is the only other Atlantic tropical cyclone to do do.

Alice developed on Jan. 30 and reached winds of 90 mph before dissipating on Jan. 6.

Epsilon was one of only five December hurricanes since the National Weather Service began recording them in 1885.

Alex, which was technically the first hurricane of the 2016 off-season, hit the Azores with tropical storm force winds on Jan. 16 after being downgraded from a hurricane.