The National Hurricane Center announced that a weather system off Puerto Rico on Monday still had the potential to become a late tropical or subtropical storm.

A 11 a.m. (EST) statement said today that "regardless of whether the low [pressure system] develops further... it could produce heavy squalls and gusty winds of near gale force across the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico later today and tonight as it moves westward or west-southwestward at about 20 mph.  Heavy rains over Puerto Rico and Hispaniola could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides."

At that statement's time, the weather system was located 200 miles east of Puerto Rico. The forecaster with the National Hurricane Center said that upper-level winds are expected to become gradually less favorable for development over the next couple of days and recommended that interests in these areas should continue to monitor the progress of this system.

If it reaches tropical storm strength, the weather system would be named Olga, the 15th named storm of the season. The Atlantic hurricane season ended Nov. 1. However, tropical storms in December and January aren't unprecedented.

Just a few days ago, hurricane experts Philip Klotzbach and William Gray, the two Colorado State University meteorologists, have announced that they forecast 13 named storms for 2008, including seven hurricanes, three of which will be classified as major.

Although Gray's team at Colorado State University erred their last two forecasts, he is confident the 2008 forecast is more accurate. Gray has been predicting hurricanes for about 25 years now. This year, his team's forecast is based on a new method which relies on water temperatures in the Atlantic and Pacific and the relationship between barometric pressure and altitude over the Atlantic.