The 13th tropical depression of the 2000 Atlantic Hurricane Season formed Thursday morning in the far eastern tropical Atlantic more than 2,600 miles east-southeast of the Virgin Islands.
The depression and several other tropical waves now in the tropical Atlantic are not expected to develop much at present, although there is a lot of tropical moisture across the Caribbean, according to meteorologist Alan Archer.
"A nontropical weather system in the Western Caribbean is causing the development of above-normal high-level winds across the entire region," he said. These winds are hampering development of weather systems tracking west across the Atlantic.
At 5 p.m. Thursday, Tropical Depression 13 was poorly organized and located about 195 miles south-southwest of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands.
According to hurricane forecaster James Franklin, the center of the tropical depression was at 12.1 degrees north latitude, 25.3 degrees west longitude, moving west northwest at 18 miles per hour. Top winds were estimated at 35 miles per hour with some additional strengthening expected on Friday. Franklin said if the system intensifies enough, it would become Tropical Storm Isaac.
Advisories are being issued by the National Hurricane Center every six hours.
