WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (WPEC) — The tropics have finally said goodbye to Peter and Rose, as both systems fell apart due to wind shear overnight. But just as the tropics say goodbye to those two storms, we shift our focus to a new system in the Atlantic – and this one could become a strong hurricane.

Tropical Storm Sam continues to move west across the central Atlantic at 15 mph. It's unusual to see a storm move across the central Atlantic this slowly. Most systems move at 20 to 25 mph across this part of the Atlantic.

Due to Sam's slow forward speed and the favorable environment it's in right now, the system could strengthen rather quickly through the weekend.

Upper-level high pressure is coupled to the system's low-level center. This allows the storm to breathe freely, not choking the system with any wind shear or dry air. This means the storm will likely continue to strengthen with time.

As the storm moves over water temperatures of 82 to 84 degrees the next few days, global models suggest it should reach hurricane status by Friday. The storm should continue to strengthen, becoming a major hurricane by this weekend.

The National Hurricane Center's thinking is very similar to this — forecasting a category 3 major hurricane by early Tuesday morning in their latest track update. However, due to it's slow forward speed, it will likely still be east of the Leeward Islands by that time.

Most global models suggest this system will lift just to the north of some of the northern Leeward Islands, which would spare the island chain from significant impacts. A few models, including the Euro, still take it farther south, clipping the islands and coming close to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. So this will need to be monitored over the next several days. However, this is nothing to be concerned about in the United States just yet.