Sept. 23 (UPI) — Tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches were issued Monday as Air Force hurricane hunters investigated what could become the next tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.

According the the National Hurricane Center, the disturbance was about 110 miles SSW of Grand Cayman and about 340 miles from the western tip of Cuba.

NHC forecasters said the system is moving toward the north near 6 mph. A northwestward motion is expected on Tuesday and Tuesday night, followed by a faster northward or north-northeastward motion on Wednesday and Thursday, forecasters said.

On that forecast track, the center of the system is predicted to move across the northwestern Caribbean Sea and into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico during the next couple of days.

Maximum sustained winds currently are near 30 mph with higher gusts.

A hurricane watch is in effect from Cabo Catoche, Mexico, to Tulum, Mexico, and for the Cuban province of Pinar del Rio.

A tropical storm warning is in effect from Rio Lagartos to Tulum in Mexico, as well as the Cuban provinces of Artemisa, Pinar del Rio, and the Isle of Youth.

A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area, in this case within the next 24 to 36 hours. A hurricane watch means that hurricane conditions are possible within the watch area, typically within 48 hours before the anticipated first occurrence of tropical-storm-force winds.