Tropical Depression 11 has formed in Atlantic

Tropical Depression Eleven has formed, the National Hurricane Center said in a public advisory issued at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

On Tuesday afternoon, the storm was located about 1,110 miles southwest of the Cabo Verde islands and about 1,450 miles east of the Lesser Antilles, the islands that separate the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The system is expected to move generally west to north-westward at around 15 mph across the tropical Atlantic over the next several days, according to the NHC.

The large, low pressure system is currently moving west over the central Atlantic at 16 mph with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, the hurricane center said. Some strengthening is forecast over the next 48 hours, and the depression is expected to become a tropical storm by Wednesday night, the hurricane center said.

If the storm develops, it would become Tropical Storm Josephine. However, the conditions for sustained cyclone development don’t seem likely. A tropical cyclone is a rotating storm system that could strengthen into a tropical storm or hurricane.

“Conditions are forecast to become less conducive for development by the end

of the week,” the hurricane center said.

Still, the conditions over the Atlantic that have been keeping storms at bay are about to expire. Dust carried across the ocean from Africa is disappearing, sea temperatures are creeping warmer, and stormkilling wind shears are going away — changes that are combining to clear the way for storms to form and grow stronger.

COURTESY Tropical Depression 11 formed in the Atlantic on Tuesday.