Tropical Trio

Things are really heating up in the Tropics with three areas being watched by the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Satellite imagery shows three cloud swirls from the West Coast of Africa to the Caribbean Sea, these are the features NHC is monitoring.

Invest97L

This tropical wave is moving west between 15 and 20 mph with plenty of thunderstorm activity as shown in this infrared imagery. Where you see the darker colors is where most of the heavy rain can be found. 

Chances for development remain high Wednesday morning, at 80% A recon mission is set for Thursday if need be.

Where is it going?

Models suggest, once Invest97L nears Central America it will start turning Northwest towards the Yucatan Peninsula/Gulf of Mexico. There is the best chance for organization. South Florida will watch where it finally ends up. We may get some rain from it. The timing is still not certain. Could be late in the weekend to early next week. We'll keep monitoring.

Invest98L

Satellite loop shows a broad spin in the Atlantic roughly midway between the Lesser Antilles and Cape Verde. If you could split the system in two, the western sector is where you find most of the rain while the eastern side remains dry at the moment. A NOAA high altitude mission is also on standby for Thursday.

The chances for development remain unchanged since Tuesday night at 90%. If it organizes it will do so in area shaded red.

Where is it going?

This is the feature that has many of us concerned and rightly so. If these models pan out we could be dealing with a tropical system by the middle of next week.  

Here are the facts:

• Nothing has organized yet, so these models are just giving an educated guess. 
• Models are split, with some developing a strong system and others keeping it very weak. 
• Once it develops, better projections will be issued along with a cone of concern. 
• The cone will give us the best idea of where it may end up.
• Plenty of time to watch in South Florida

While the worry meter is not low on Invest98L, by no means is it high. This is a great reminder that we are in the most active part of hurricane season with its peak next month. This is the time to calmly check what you need in case Mother Nature sends this storm our way, This goes for everyone from the Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, and the Bahamas.

And then there were three

This is a tropical wave that is still over the West Coast of Africa. It is a very healthy wave with plenty of thunderstorm activity. It should move offshore late Wednesday.

NHC is giving this feature a 20% chance for organization once it reaches the yellow shaded area. No models are available for this wave yet. It's not even an Invest. All we can do is monitor it.

We'll be watching