MIDWAY, Fla. (WTXL) -- Areas of rain are gathering off the Florida east coast in association with the broad low-pressure circulation that has been gaining organization over the last 24 hours.
The developing system's center is about 150 miles east of Cape Canaveral late Wednesday afternoon. The heaviest rain remains offshore, and winds along the coast are not incredibly strong. Some gusts have exceeded 20 mph in some western Atlantic buoys.
The system's circulation is still non-tropic, but it's possible the low will use some of the warm waters of the Gulf Stream to gain further development as a subtropical or an eventually fully tropical low as it tracks gradually to the north. Steering winds are weak in this region, meaning the system will not move quickly and may meander off the Georgia and Carolina coastlines later this week.
Local impacts from this system will still be mainly indirect, in the form of a dry northerly flow that will limit local rain chances through the weekend. Temperatures are also likely to run a few degrees above average with a modest sinking air over the region caused by the storm system's outflowing upper winds.
If the storm is deemed a subtropical storm or a tropical storm, it will take the name Ana, first on the list of the 2015 hurricane season.
The official start of the hurricane season is June 1. There have been 23 storms of at least tropical storm strength in May since 1851.