A broad area of ​​low pressure is expected to develop over the southwestern Caribbean Sea by the end of the week before drifting north, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Forecasters said at 1 p.m. Wednesday that the system has a 40% chance of developing into a tropical depression or storm this weekend or early next week.

Jay Grymes, state climatologist at the LSU AgCenter, said Wednesday morning that even if the disturbance were to become a tropical cyclone, current hurricane models do not suggest a real threat of a landfall on the Gulf Coast, leaving the disturbance in the Caribbean for the next week.

If it were to form, the storm would be called Patty and would mark the 16th named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.