ORLANDO, Fla. — The National Hurricane Center on Friday began watching a new, rapidly organizing area in the Atlantic that could become the season’s next tropical depression or storm.

As of the NHC’s 2 p.m. EDT tropical outlook, an area of low pressure several hundred miles southwest of the Azores was producing showers and thunderstorms, and just a small increase in organization is likely to result in the formation of a tropical depression as soon as later today.

“The system is expected to move slowly over the next couple of days remaining southwest of the Azores, followed by a turn to the southwest by early next week, when environmental conditions are forecast to become less favorable for additional development,” forecasters said of Invest 99-L.

The NHC gives the new system a 70% chance of development within two to seven days.

Earlier Friday, a small area of low pressure, Invest 98-L, dissipated after the NHC dropped chances to just 10% it could develop in the next two to seven days.

So far the hurricane season has yet to produce an actual hurricane, but has seen the formation of tropical storms Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly and Edouard. The next name on the list is Fay.

Edouard made landfall in Louisiana with the NHC’s last advisory coming on Sept. 3 as it moved inland over Texas.

It’s been quiet in the tropics since then.

Hurricane season began June 1 and runs through Nov. 30, but the height of hurricane season runs from mid-August through mid-October.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last month updated its seasonal forecast and now expects between seven and 13 named storms this year. Of those, two to six would become hurricanes. It also predicted that there might not be any major hurricanes this year, or at most two.

Already, 2026 was forecast to have lower-than-average storm generation, and that has been reduced even further with the latest forecasts from the NOAA and other weather groups.

An average year would see 14 named storms and seven hurricanes, with three of those growing to Category 3 strength or higher.

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