MIAMI, (CMC) – The Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) on Monday said it could begin issuing advisories on a tropical depression later in the day as a system it has been watching has become better organised overnight.

NHC said that satellite images indicate that the area of low pressure located roughly midway between Africa and the Lesser Antilles is close to becoming a tropical clone.

“If current trends continue, advisories could be initiated on a tropical depression later today. This system is forecast to move generally westward at 15 to 20 miles (mph) with further development across the central tropical Atlantic through the middle part of this week,” the NHC said in its latest weather bulletin.

It said that chances of the system becoming a cyclone through 48 hours is 100 per cent, the same percentage given for a seven day period.

Meanwhile, NHC said that showers and thunderstorms have increased in association with a tropical wave located several hundred miles south-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands.

“Further development of this system is possible, and a tropical depression could form within the next few days while the system moves westward at 10 to 15 mph across the eastern and central tropical Atlantic,” the weather centre said.

The NHC said chances of it developing into a cyclone is low while it is given a medium chance over a seven day period.

The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, which began at the start of this month, officially ends on November 30.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expects a range of 12 to 17 total named storms during the period, with five to nine of them could become hurricanes, which includes one to four major hurricanes.