MIAMI _ What the National Hurricane Center is calling a "vigorous tropical wave" moving across the Atlantic Ocean now has a 50 percent chance of becoming a tropical depression or storm in the next two days and a 90 percent chance in the next five days.
That's the National Hurricane Center's 7 a.m. Monday analysis of the storm, which also says, "Shower and thunderstorm activity has increased and become a little more concentrated this morning, and environmental conditions are forecast to gradually become more conducive for the development of a tropical depression or a tropical storm during the next day or so."
As for where the storm, now 200 miles east of the Leeward Islands, is likely to go: "The disturbance is forecast to move westward to west-northwestward for the next few days, passing near or north of the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and the southeastern Bahamas."
The National Weather Service's hazardous weather outlook warns of a chance of thunderstorms throughout Tuesday for South Florida, as well as an elevated risk of rip currents to at least midweek. Chances of ran range from 20 to 40 percent much of the week.
