Sunshine Sentinel

The National Hurricane Center has turned its attention to a trough now off Florida's east coast after a hurricane and tropical depression that approached the state earlier this week petered out.

The center isn't expecting much from a surface trough that early Oct. 6 was located about 200 miles east of Florida and then was producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms, spurred on by strong upper-level winds.

"These winds are not expected to be conducive for significant development of this system while it moves slowly northward and then northeastward off the southeastern United States coast during the next few days," the NHC said Oct. 6 in its advisory about the system. "By the weekend, the system is forecast to interact with a front near the coast of the southeastern United States, which should also limit tropical development."

The system's formation chances over the next two days are low "near 0%" and over the next five days are only at 10%, the advisory said.

General weakening should continue into the weekend when winds are expected to be even more gentle before encountering a strong front that could make the system's tropical development even more unlikely.

The latest advisory comes shortly after Hurricane Sam and Tropical Depression Victor made their appearance and then left Florida alone.

The NHC issued its last advisory for Victor on Monday, Oct. 4, after it degenerated into a trough over the central Atlantic and no coastal watches or warnings currently are in effect.

Last weekend, Hurricane Sam, which had reached Category 3, weakened as it moved northeast over the open Atlantic, according to the NHC's advisory issued Saturday, Oct. 2. Hurricane Sam had been the 18th named storm of this year's Atlantic hurricane season.

At the time, Sam's swells, including life-threatening surf and rip current conditions, were expected along the northern Leeward Islands, the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas, the eastern U.S. and Canada's Atlantic coast.