Hurricane center gives approaching tropical wave high chance of forming in Caribbean

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - The National Hurricane Center is monitoring two disturbances capable of affecting weather in the Gulf of Mexico, and giving one -- a tropical wave crossing the Atlantic from Africa -- a high chance of forming into at least a tropical depression in the coming days.

In its Sunday afternoon forecast released at 1 p.m., the NHC in Miami said the tropical wave was fronted by thunderstorm activity about 1,000 miles east-southeast of the Windward Islands, and that the system “continues to show signs of organization.”

Forecasters added, “Environmental conditions appear conducive for further development, and a tropical depression is likely to form during the early-to-middle part of this week. This system is forecast to move westward to west-northwestward at 15-20 mph over the tropical Atlantic, approach the Windward Islands on Tuesday, and move across the southeastern Caribbean Sea on Wednesday and Thursday.”

The NHC gave the system a 40 percent chance of formation over the next 48 hours, and a 70 percent chance of formation through the next five days. Should the system develop into a named Atlantic storm, it would become Tropical Storm Bonnie.

The Hurricane Center also is tracking a disorganized cluster of showers and thunderstorms associated with a trough of low pressure in the northern Gulf, off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana. Forecasters expect this system to be slow in developing as it drifts westward to west-southwestward over the northern Gulf over the next few days, giving it only a low 20 percent chance of formation over the next five days.

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