National Hurricane Center tracking 2 tropical waves that could become better organized

ORLANDO, Fla. - Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami are closely monitoring two areas that could develop further over the next week.

A tropical wave is over the southeastern Caribbean Sea, causing scattered showers and thunderstorms as it moves quickly west at about 25 mph. Later this week, conditions might become more favorable for gradual development over the western Caribbean Sea or the southwestern Gulf of Mexico during the weekend. The chance of a tropical formation in the next seven days is low, at 20%.

A tropical wave a couple of hundred miles south of the Cabo Verde Islands is also causing scattered showers and thunderstorms. There’s a chance for slow development of this system over the weekend and into early next week as it moves west across the central and western tropical Atlantic at 15 to 20 mph. The chance of a tropical formation in the next seven days is 20%.

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"Next week, the atmosphere is going to be unusually conducive for the calendar, being July 4th weekend, for there to be a system to form," said FOX 35 Meteorologist Noah Bergren. "I say unusually so because this area is normally most active mid-to-late August into early October. You don't see much in June or July, so it will be interesting to see what happens there. There are some signals that this could be a long-tracking storm, so we'll keep an eye on it."

Slow development is due to the Saharan dust headed toward Florida and the Gulf of Mexico by this weekend, which is helping limit much of our tropical development over the next week or so.

The FOX 35 Storm Team will continue to monitor these areas for potential development.