**Hurricane Milton's Aftermath and Future Atlantic Storm Projections**

As west-central Florida begins to recover from the destruction caused by Hurricane Milton and the wider Southeast U.S. continues its recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene, the National Hurricane Center remains vigilant, monitoring potential future storms. The next storm on the radar would be named Nadine. Though a system that was forming off Florida's east coast failed to develop into Tropical Storm Nadine, attention has shifted to a new system in the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean.

This new weather system is currently a few hundred miles west of the Cabo Verde Islands, off the west coast of Africa, and is progressing westward. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), there's a 40% chance of this system evolving into a tropical depression within the next seven days, though significant development is not expected until the middle of next week.

Meanwhile, meteorologists from AccuWeather predict that the tropics near the U.S. may experience relative calm for most of next week. However, they have highlighted a medium risk of tropical development in the western Caribbean from Thursday, October 17, to Saturday, October 19. This is the same region where both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton formed.

AccuWeather's lead hurricane expert, Alex DaSilva, noted that a gyre—an area of spinning air currents—is expected to develop over Central America next week. This gyre could give rise to a distinct area of showers and thunderstorms, potentially evolving into a tropical depression or tropical storm.

Previously, Tropical Storm Leslie had made headlines, strengthening into Hurricane Leslie before weakening back to a tropical storm. According to the NHC, Leslie has since degenerated into a trough and is no longer a threat to the U.S., though it's still producing sustained winds of 50 mph with higher gusts and is expected to weaken further in the coming days.

This year's Atlantic hurricane season, which has already seen 13 named storms, extends officially until November 30. With seven weeks remaining, the upcoming storms will be named Nadine and Oscar. After a lull of about five weeks, the hurricane season picked up pace with the arrival of Helene and Milton, leading to an above-average season. As noted by Colorado State University meteorologist Phil Klotzbach, the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season has accumulated 127 on the Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) index, meeting NOAA's criteria for an above-normal season.