What could be the season's first storm is swirling near the equator in the Atlantic Ocean and forecasters give it a 30 percent chance to develop into a tropical storm by Tuesday.
The sprawling area of low pressure is only a few degrees north of the equator about 800 miles southwest of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands.
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said it is rare for a storm to form in this area of the Atlantic so early in the season. Typically June and July storms form in the western Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico.
Storms coming across the tropical Atlantic usually roar up in the peak of the season from the middle of August through early October.
Forecasters said environmental conditions are favorable for the low pressure area to become better organized over the next two days. Its winds are just below 30 mph.
Computer models that predict a storm's intensity are fairly evenly split on whether the low pressure area will become a tropical storm by Monday. A few models even take it to Category 1 hurricane strength by the middle of the week before quickly weakening.
Other models keep it below tropical storm strength.
Track models show the system heading toward the northwest but the models keep the system east of the Caribbean by Friday.
This is the third area of low pressure that caught the attention of forecasters since the season started June 1 and the only one forecasters gave more than a 10 percent chance of developing.
The other two low pressure areas never developed.
The first storm of the season will be named Alex.
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