The chances of Invest 97-L developing into a tropical depression in the next 48 hours have increased, according to forecasters at the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Why It Matters
The update comes after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration previously forecast an above-normal 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, with the agency predicting up to 18 named systems this year, including between five and nine hurricanes.
The Atlantic hurricane season has seen four named systems so far in 2025: Andrea, Barry, Chantal, and Dexter. Chantal brought heavy rain and flooding to North Carolina in early July. None of the previous named storms developed into hurricanes.
What To Know
In an early morning update on Monday, the NHC reported the chances of Invest 97-L—a disturbance over the Atlantic Ocean—forming into a cyclone is at 90 percent over the next 48 hours, or a “high” probability.
This represented a 30 percent increase over the 60 percent chance designated on Sunday, which Newsweek previously reported.
Over the next seven days, the NHC said there was a 90 percent chance of cyclone development.
“Shower and thunderstorm activity has persisted and continues to show signs of organization with a well-defined area of low pressure located just to the west of the Cabo Verde Islands. If these structural trends continue, the system is likely to become a tropical depression or storm, possibly as soon as later this morning,” the NHC said.
“Regardless of development over the next couple of days, the system is expected to continue moving westward to west-northwestward at 15 to 20 mph across the eastern and central tropical Atlantic,” it added.
Meanwhile, the agency was also monitoring a disturbance in the central tropical Atlantic with “limited shower and thunderstorm activity.”
The NHC gave this disturbance a “low” 10 percent chance of development through 48 hours and a 10 percent chance through seven days.
The NHC defines a cyclone as “a rotating, organized system of clouds and thunderstorms that originates over tropical or subtropical waters and has a closed low-level circulation.”
They are classified based on wind speed: a tropical depression has maximum sustained winds of 38 mph or less, while a hurricane has maximum sustained winds of 74 mph or higher, according to the agency.
What People Are Saying
The National Hurricane Center said in a post on X, Sunday: “Low pressure (AL97) could become a tropical depression before reaching the Cabo Verde Islands tonight and Monday, bringing locally heavy rains and gusty winds. Even if that does not occur, a tropical depression is likely to form later this week while moving across the tropical Atlantic.”
Meteorologist Matt Devitt said on X, Sunday: “A tropical system is expected to form soon in the Atlantic…even as early as tonight into Monday. This system does have the potential to become the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic Season.”
What Happens Next
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June through November, while the eastern Pacific hurricane season began on May 15 and lasts until November 30.
The NHC says that August and September are typically the busiest months of the Atlantic season.
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