Bryan Norcross: Tropical season kicks off with a whimper

Invest 90L in Atlantic could develop into short-lived tropical depression

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has highlighted an area to watch in the central, subtropical Atlantic. 90L is officially the first invest of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season. It has a high chance of development over the next two days but is expected to dissipate quickly as it encounters hostile conditions. 

A low-pressure system with good spin but few thunderstorms is tracking away from land in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean east of Bermuda. The National Hurricane Center is giving it a high chance of developing into at least a tropical depression. Satellite-measured winds are peaking just under tropical storm strength, so there's a slight chance it could get the first name of the year, Andrea.

Satellite image shows a system being tracked in the Atlantic Ocean on June 23, 2025.

(Bryan Norcross / FOX Weather)

The heat-dome of high pressure is sitting over the eastern US, and there’s a strong high over the eastern Atlantic as well. The low-pressure gap between them provided the environment for the small system to spin up.

The wannabe depression is going to have to get its act together today if it's going anywhere. The oceanic and atmospheric environment ahead is hostile. The system is on the edge of sufficiently warm water to develop, and strong upper-level winds will soon prohibit development.

No land is threatened, so this is all only for tropical amusement.

The outlook for a system being monitored in the Atlantic Ocean as of June 23, 2025.

(Bryan Norcross / FOX Weather)

The tropical Atlantic between Africa and the Caribbean, the Caribbean Sea itself, and the Gulf remain closed to tropical development. Long-range computer forecast models show little to no chance of a system spinning up into early July, at least.

But of course, we watch closely.