El Niño continues to strengthen, approaching record territory, as Invest 96L churns in the Atlantic
Invest 96L has been given medium odds of developing over the next seven days over a broad area of open ocean between Cabo Verde and the Caribbean, according to the NHC.
Invest 96L development odds drop amid strengthening El Niño
The Atlantic Basin has been dominated by a strengthening El Niño, suppressing tropical activity across the basin this season. However, Invest 96L is attempting to develop, with odds now dropping to a medium chance. FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin has the latest on tropical activity across the basin:
THE TAKEAWAY
- One area for potential tropical development is being monitored in the Atlantic basin.
- El Niño could reach historic strength later this year, according to NOAA.
- If a tropical system does emerge, both Bermuda and the northeastern Caribbean islands would be the first areas threatened.
The Atlantic Basin is once again trying to support the development of a tropical disturbance — Invest 96L — as it battles the hostile conditions being produced by the strengthening El Niño climate pattern as well as plumes of dust from North Africa's Saharan Desert.
NOAA: EL NIÑO HAS 69% CHANCE OF REACHING HISTORIC STRENGTH THIS YEAR
(FOX Weather)
According to NOAA, El Niño could reach historic strength later this year — El Niño typically limits hurricane development in the Atlantic due to hostile winds that usually blow over the Caribbean and parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Calm conditions are generally more conducive to hurricane formation.
EL NIÑO INTENSIFIES PUERTO RICO'S RECORD DROUGHT AND WATER CRISIS
A low-pressure area is developing along a tropical wave a few hundred miles southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands, producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms.
Forecasters think it could strengthen into a tropical depression over the next day or two as it moves westward to west-northwestward across the Atlantic.
That storm has been designated Invest 96L. The term "invest" is used every hurricane season in the Atlantic and the Eastern and Central Pacific basins, accompanied by a number from 90 to 99 and either the suffix "L," "E" or "C," respectively.
It's being given medium odds of developing over the next seven days over a broad area of open ocean between Cabo Verde and the Caribbean, according to the NHC.
(FOX Weather)
Computer forecast models are currently in flux for the future of Invest 96L, which is currently trying to get its act together in the far eastern Atlantic.
WHAT IS AN INVEST DURING HURRICANE SEASON?
For once, Invest 96L is facing seemingly favorable environmental conditions with an abundant amount of atmospheric moisture, but there is still a general lack of instability across the deep tropics.
However, a major hurdle remains—the same issue that has suppressed Atlantic activity since early August: a general lack of vertical instability across the deep tropics.
LATEST FROM FOX WEATHER HURRICANE SPECIALIST BRYAN NORCROSS
If a tropical system does emerge, both Bermuda and the northeastern Caribbean islands would be the first areas threatened.