By Patrick Phillips | May 14, 2020 at 11:00 AM EDT - Updated May 14 at 11:00 AM
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The National Hurricane Center continues to watch an area of low pressure near the Bahamas that could develop into a named storm over the next few days.
Live 5 Meteorologist Joey Sovine said it could become a subtropical depression or subtropical storm.
He says models have the storm tracking northeast and staying away from the Southeast coastline. But such a storm could increase the risk of rip currents by the weekend or early next week.
If it reaches subtropical storm status, it would be named Arthur.
Names storms forming before the June 1 official start of the Atlantic Hurricane Season have not been unheard of over the past several years.
Last year,the first named storm of the season, Subtropical Storm Andrea, also formed before the official start of the season. It formed on May 20 and also stayed out in the ocean and away from the United States.
It was the fifth consecutive year that tropical (or subtropical) activity began before the June 1 start.
In 2018, Tropical Storm Alberto formed on May 25. Tropical Storm Arlene formed on April 19, 2017.
Hurricane Alex, a very unusual January hurricane, formed on Jan. 12, 2016. The second named storm of the 2016 season, Tropical Storm Bonnie, formed on May 27.
Tropical Storm Ana formed on May 8, 2015.
The last time Arthur was used as a storm name, in the 2014 Atlantic Hurricane Season, it did not form until July 1 of that year. It formed east of Florida and made landfall along the North Carolina coast as a Category 2 hurricane but then continued on a northeast path.
Copyright 2020 WCSC. All rights reserved.
Photo: Live 5 News