Strong storm could hit next week — or maybe not

Strong, subtropical wind and rain could batter the Lowcountry by the end of the weekend, but forecasters say it's too soon to tell whether a storm will form or where it would go.

They're watching a stalled cold-weather front stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Southeast coast. Computer models project that the system could spin up the storm, which would work its way toward Georgia and the Carolinas.

Meteorologist Jeff Masters of Weather Underground expects the storm to develop off Cuba, affect the Florida coast on Saturday, Georgia by Sunday and South Carolina by Monday. National Hurricane Center forecasters aren't so confident.

"Models spin up stuff all the time; it doesn't mean it's going to happen," said Dennis Feltgen of the hurricane center.

It's the time of the year, because of the changing season, that weather and consequently the model projections become more uncertain, he said. "Right now we see absolutely nothing, nothing tropical at all."

Feltgen and meteorologist Pete Mohlin of the National Weather Service Charleston said forecasters are watching this one.

"There are way too many uncertainties," Mohlin said. "But it definitely bears watching. We're still in tropical season. Something could form."