By Wendy Anders

Surface pressures are slowly falling over the southwestern Caribbean Sea, and a broad low pressure system is expected to form in this area during the next day or two.

According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, environmental conditions are forecast to be conducive for the slow development of this disturbance.

This could lead to the formation of a tropical depression by late this week or over the weekend as the low pressure system drifts northward or northeastward, possibly bring rain to the Cayman Islands, Jamaica and parts of Cuba, said meteorologists in Miami.

The chances of a tropical cyclone forming during the next five days are estimated to be 60 percent, said the scientists.

If the system strengthens into a tropical storm, defined by a weather system with closed circulation and sustained winds of at least 39 mph, it will be a boy: The next name on the list is Otto.

The Atlantic hurricane season officially ends on November 30, but tropical storms in November, while infrequent, are not unheard of.

The last tropical storm to form entirely in November in the Caribbean was Tropical Storm Gamma in 2005 which arrived at the end of 2005’s drencher of a year.

That year broke records with 28 tropical or subtropical storms, including hurricanes Katrina and Wilma, said the National Hurricane Center in Miami.