The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is keeping an eye on two areas for potential tropical development in the wake of Hurricane Erin, as activity in the Atlantic begins to ramp up.
Growth Potential Behind Hurricane Erin
The first area of interest can be traced back to the west coast of Africa, where it has caught the NHC’s attention for several days now.
According to the NHC, a significant cluster of thunderstorms in the Central Tropical Atlantic is likely to encounter conditions that are conducive for development as it heads toward the Caribbean. The outlook suggests that there’s a chance for moderate development in the coming week.
“Environmental conditions seem to support gradual development,” the NHC noted in a Tuesday evening update. “A tropical depression could form and potentially move near or north of the northern Leeward Islands by the end of the week.”
Hurricane Specialist Bryan Norcross from Fox Weather pointed out that it’s still too soon to determine the specific trajectory of this developing system.
“Next week’s path remains uncertain,” Norcross mentioned in his Monday analysis. “While computer forecasts fluctuate, there’s a general agreement that the system might mirror Erin’s trajectory, moving north along the East Coast.”
The next storm name on the list for the 2025 Atlantic Hurricane Season will be Fernando.
Invest 99L Designated for African Region
On Tuesday morning, the NHC officially designated the area off the African coast as Invest 99L.
This “Invest” label indicates that the NHC is examining the potential for a tropical depression or storm developing within a week.
This designation allows the NHC to deploy specialized computer models to gain insights into future movements and intensity predictions for the system.
Furthermore, tropical waves are still creating shower and thunderstorm activity, advancing westward at roughly 15 mph. “A brief tropical depression could materialize before less favorable conditions set in later this week,” the NHC said on Tuesday evening.
That said, the current projection suggests that the likelihood of development over the next week is low.
If conditions turn favorable enough for the storm to evolve into a tropical storm, it would be named Gabriel.
The Fox Forecast Center is set to monitor these areas as the peak of hurricane season approaches on September 10th.
