MIAMI – An area of low pressure spinning in the Atlantic Ocean now dubbed Invest 96L is still being monitored by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) for possible tropical development over the next several days.
The NHC is giving Invest 96L a 20% chance of developing into a tropical system over the next two days, and a 70% chance of developing over the next week.
If Invest 96L continues to strengthen, it could become Tropical Depression Five or Tropical Storm Emily.
The term “invest” is a naming convention used by the NHC to identify a system forecasters are investigating for possible development into a tropical depression or tropical storm within the next week.
The NHC said an area of disorganized cloudiness and showers associated with a tropical wave is located about 1,100 miles east of the Leeward Islands.
The storm cluster is moving west at 16 mph. So far, peak wind gusts in the storm are around 25 mph.
Invest 96L is forecast to move west-northwestward to northwestward.
It is expected to turn north-northwestward to northward over the central subtropical Atlantic on Monday and Tuesday.
Over the weekend or early next week, the consensus of the various computer forecasts is that the system will break free of the densest part of a dust plume from the Sahara Desert and gather enough moisture to develop into at least a tropical depression, according to FOX Weather Hurricane Specialist Bryan Norcross.
A blocking high-pressure system to the north is currently propelling the disturbance on a westerly path, but a break in the high should allow a northward turn over the weekend, Norcross said, keeping the storm away from the U.S.