RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is monitoring five areas of potential tropical development across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, including two tropical waves in the Atlantic basin that could become tropical depressions later this week as the 2026 hurricane season ramps up.
Although no tropical cyclones are currently active in either basin, forecasters are closely watching a cluster of disturbances stretching from the coast of Africa to the waters east of Hawaii.
According to the NHC, the most likely Atlantic disturbance has a 40 percent chance of development over the next seven days.
The NHC's Atlantic Tropical Weather Outlook says that a broad area of showers and thunderstorms associated with a tropical wave is currently situated several hundred miles southwest of the Cape Verde Islands off Africa's west coast.
The system is moving westward across the central tropical Atlantic and could undergo gradual development during the early to middle part of this week.
However, forecasters say upper-level winds, fast-moving air currents found in the upper atmosphere, are expected to become less favorable later in the week as the disturbance approaches the Lesser Antilles. The system has a near-zero chance of formation during the next 48 hours and a 20 percent chance during the next seven days.
Forecasters are also tracking another tropical wave expected to move off Africa's west coast early this week.
Environmental conditions are forecast to be more favorable for development, and the NHC says a tropical depression could form during the latter half of the week as the system travels westward across the eastern and central Atlantic. That disturbance currently has a 40 percent chance of development over the next seven days.
The Eastern Pacific outlook shows three additional areas being monitored for development.
The most significant is a tropical wave located more than 1,000 miles east-southeast of Hawaii that is producing a large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms. The NHC expects a tropical depression to form within a few days as the system moves west-northwestward across the Central Pacific. Its chances of development have been placed at 90 percent over the next week.
A second disturbance southwest of the Baja California Peninsula has a 50 percent chance of formation during the next seven days, while a third area of low pressure forecast to develop off Mexico's southwestern coast holds only a 10 percent chance.
The Atlantic systems remain far out over the open ocean, while the Pacific disturbances are forecast to move generally westward or west-northwestward over open waters.
Because none of the systems have developed a well-defined circulation yet, forecasts regarding eventual track and intensity remain uncertain.
The growing number of tropical disturbances is a sign that the Atlantic hurricane season is entering a more active phase.
August historically marks the beginning of a significant increase in tropical activity, with the climatological peak of hurricane season arriving in early September. While none of the current systems pose an immediate threat to the United States, meteorologists closely monitor tropical waves emerging from Africa because they can develop into tropical storms and hurricanes as they move westward across the Atlantic, according to The Weather Channel.
For now, the tropical wave expected to emerge from Africa this week and the Central Pacific disturbance east-southeast of Hawaii are the systems most likely to become the next tropical depressions.
Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Matthew Robinson and Robert Greenall
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