System Has 90 Percent Chance of Developing into Depression

Satellite photo shows, from left, a low-pressure system moving west across the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Dorian smashing across the Bahamas and bearing down on the U.S. coast, and to the far right, a tropical wave with a 90 percent chance of forming a tropical depression by week's end. (NOAA photo)
Satellite photo shows, from left, a low-pressure system moving west across the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Dorian smashing across the Bahamas and bearing down on the U.S. coast, and to the far right, a tropical wave with a 90 percent chance of forming a tropical depression by week’s end. (NOAA photo)

An elongated area of low pressure a few hundred miles west of the Cape Verde Islands became better defined Monday morning and is given a high probability of forming a tropical depression, although the storm is expected to follow a northwest path across the Atlantic and pose no threat to the Caribbean.

According to the National Hurricane Center, the system is producing limited showers and thunderstorms, but is beginning to show signs of organization.

The system has an 80 percent chance of further development in the next 48 hours, and a 90 percent chance of formation within the next five days, the forecasters said in their 2 p.m. Monday update.

Another tropical wave is forecast to emerge over the far eastern tropical Atlantic between Africa and the Cape Verde Islands by the end of the week. Some gradual development of this disturbance will be possible over the following weekend while it moves westward to west-northwestward.