Almost a dozen storms this tropical season have been named — three in just the past week.

We’re continuing to keep a close watch on Julia, although direct impacts are not expected here in Central Florida.

Julia was downgraded back to a tropical depression around 275 miles south-southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina. The storm is becoming less organized, but has also all but stalled.

What we do know: Julia remains in a strong shear environment, which is blowing a lot of the storms east of the center of circulation. This shear will help to decrease its chance to intensify. We also know that a system moving across the United States will eventually help to push Julia out to sea early next week. Until then, we’ll see some rougher ocean conditions and a high rip current risk along our east coast.

For now, these are the only impacts from Julia.

Late Thursday, Tropical Storm Karl developed well out in the Atlantic.

Karl is expected to move west over the next week toward the Lesser Antilles. Some unfavorable conditions look to keep Karl as a tropical storm through the weekend and early next week. Beyond that, Karl may be able to intensify into a hurricane around the middle of next week as it moves north of the Lesser Antilles. At this point, long range models curve Karl to the north, keeping it away from the United States.

There are a couple of areas of low pressure that we’ll keep a close eye on this weekend for possible tropical formation. One is a low near the Texas coast in the Gulf of Mexico. The chance is low that this system will intensify as it moves west away from Central Florida.

Another area of low pressure is about to move off of the African coast and has a higher chance for formation in the next five days. If it develops, it will be called Lisa.