Hurricane center eyeing trouble spots

National Hurricane Center forecasters are keeping an eye on four areas of disturbed weather in the Atlantic and Caribbean that could turn into the next tropical storm or hurricane, including one off the coast of Africa that has a 60 percent chance of developing in the next five days.

The lull in tropical activity after Hurricane Florence looks like it might be ending.

One system with high odds of developing into a storm is also the one farthest away, coming off the west African coast. “Showers and thunderstorms associated with a tropical wave located about 600 miles southeast of the Cabo Verde Islands are showing some signs of organization,” the hurricane center said Friday. “The environment is forecast to be conducive for slow development, and a tropical depression could form early next week while the system moves westward at 15 to 20 mph across the low latitudes of the eastern and central tropical Atlantic Ocean.”

There is another area in the middle of the Atlantic with a 70 percent chance of becoming a tropical storm in the next five days — but it is not expected to impact land at any point.

“A non-tropical low pressure system is forecast to develop tonight over the central subtropical Atlantic Ocean midway between Bermuda and the Azores,” forecasters said. “Conditions are expected to be conducive for the low to acquire subtropical or tropical characteristics, and a subtropical or tropical cyclone is expected to form late this weekend or early next week while the low meanders over the central Atlantic Ocean.”

Two other areas of disturbed weather that have low chances of becoming storms are located in the Caribbean — about 600 miles from Windward Islands — and just southeast of Bermuda.

“A broad area of low pressure located just southeast of Bermuda is producing minimal shower activity while it moves southward at 10 to 15 mph,” the hurricane center said.