The late week forecast looks more active for south Florida. The reason? It’s because of the approach of a weak non-tropical disturbance that’s inching closer from the Bahamas. The disturbance is an area of low pressure quite high in the atmosphere. As it drifts toward south Florida on Thursday, we’ll likely see an increase in showers and thunderstorms. The low is fairly large, so it should take awhile for it to totally clear the area. Until that happens, unsettled conditions (associated with the low) will continue around south Florida and it may even spill over into the weekend. Any developing storms, by the way, will have the potential to create gusty winds and small hail. Meanwhile, far from Florida, the tropics are heating up! First, there’s Hurricane Florence. It’s a powerful category 4 hurricane that’s now over the central Atlantic. Florence is forecast to slow down (and probably weaken a bit) as it moves to the northwest. The hurricane may eventually become a threat for the island of Bermuda, but it’s safe to say it’s not a threat for Florida! As time goes on, next week, a portion of the northeast coast of the United States will need to follow the path of Florence. While a gradual turn is expected from long range models, if the turn takes awhile, it could get “too close for comfort” for parts of the upper eastern seaboard. Finally, there’s actually more to watch in the tropics. Far beyond Florence, over the eastern Atlantic Ocean, there are two tropical waves that have the potential for development over the next few days. These areas are now near the Cape Verde Islands (close to Africa) so there’s plenty of time to watch the future movement.