Hurricane Erin leads a train of tropical activity. Are more storms coming?

USA Today

a day ago

Forecasters are monitoring two other tropical systems in the Atlantic Ocean on Aug. 19 as the heart of the 2025 hurricane season approaches.
Hurricane Erin isn't the only game in town. Forecasters are also monitoring two other tropical systems in the Atlantic Ocean on Aug. 19 as the heart of the hurricane season approaches.
Hurricane Erin is located a few hundred miles off the coast of Florida and is moving slowly to the northwest, the National Hurricane Center said. Although the storm center is expected to remain offshore, large waves and rough surf driven by the powerful hurricane were expected to pound the Atlantic Coast from Central Florida to Canada.
Much farther to the east in the central Atlantic, a tropical wave could become a tropical depression toward the end of the week or over the weekend as it moves west toward the United States and Caribbean.
More: What does fierce Hurricane Erin mean for the rest of the season?
And yet another tropical wave off the coast of Africa has a low chance for development but has been designated as "Invest 99L" by the hurricane center.
If one of the systems becomes a named storm, the next storm of the Atlantic hurricane season will be Fernand.
Fortunately, neither system appears to be a land threat at this time, said Houston-based meteorologist Matt Lanza on his Eyewall blog.
Tropical wave in the central Atlantic
"The westernmost wave that's located in the central Atlantic remains discombobulated, with disorganized showers and thunderstorms stretching for hundreds of miles," said WPLG-TV hurricane specialist Michael Lowry on his Substack blog. "Until it becomes more coherent and consolidated, we won't have a great handle on its future track and development.
"That said, generally models take the system off toward the west-northwest this week and near or north of the (Caribbean) islands from Friday into the weekend," Lowry said.
The hurricane center is giving the system – the orange x on the map below – a 60% chance of development within the next seven days as it moves west across the Atlantic.
However, "until we can better lock down where it may come together, we can't speculate on whether it'll be a longer-term problem for the U.S." Lowry said.
Invest 99L in the eastern Atlantic
A tropical wave – dubbed Invest 99L – located a couple of hundred miles to the southeast of the Cabo Verde Islands continues to produce a concentrated area of showers and thunderstorms, the hurricane center said.
Environmental conditions appear generally favorable for additional development over the next couple of days as the system – the yellow x on the map above – moves westward at around 15 mph. Towards the end of this week, this system could encounter a less favorable environment, limiting its development chances after that time.
The wave is "at least 10 days from probably doing anything, so we have plenty of time to watch and it's nothing anyone needs to worry about right now," noted Lanza.
When is the busiest part of the Atlantic hurricane season?
The most active period of the Atlantic hurricane season historically has been from mid-August through mid-October. The peak hits Sept. 10.
Seasonal forecasters expect the season to be a busy one, with more storms than normal, based on their analysis of ocean conditions and weather patterns. Already, five named storms have formed, one of which is a hurricane (Erin).