Central Tropical Atlantic (AL92):
Showers and thunderstorms continue to become better organized in association with a broad area of low pressure located several hundred miles west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands.
Environmental conditions appear conducive for additional development, and a tropical depression or tropical storm is expected to form later today or tonight.
This system is forecast to move generally westward at 15 to 20 mph across the central tropical Atlantic through the middle part of this week.
* Formation chance through 48 hours…high…90 percent.
* Formation chance through 7 days…high…90 percent.
What is a tropical depression?
When a thunderstorm complex develops a low-pressure circulation, the National Hurricane Center identifies the system as a tropical depression – the weakest form of any tropical cyclone but don’t let its lack of strength surprise you.
A tropical depression has maximum sustained winds of 38 mph or less, and unlike tropical storms and hurricanes, tropical depressions are identified with numbers and not names.
Numbers are assigned in sequential order, and the season’s first tropical depression is identified as Tropical Depression One or TD 1. This will be followed by Tropical Depression Two, Tropical Depression Three, etc., and the sequential designations will continue until the season ends.
Tropical depressions form in the same regions as tropical storms and hurricanes develop in and are often the beginning stages of significant cyclones.
Area 2
An area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms located several hundred miles south of the Cabo Verde Islands is associated with a tropical wave.
Some gradual development of this system is possible through the middle and latter parts of this week as it moves westward at 10 to 15 mph across the eastern and central tropical Atlantic.
* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…20 percent.
* Formation chance through 7 days…low…30 percent.