First tropical wave of 2023 hurricane season forms east of Lesser Antilles

Although the 2023 Hurricane Season has not officially started yet, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported the first tropical wave of the season on Monday.

The Atlantic Hurricane Season runs from June 1 to November 30 but tropical cyclone activity sometimes occurs before and after these dates.

The first wave announced on Monday is about 3,000 miles east of the Lesser Antilles.

“The first tropical wave of the hurricane season is reaching the coast of Sierra Leone and Liberia this afternoon,” the NHC said in a bulletin on Monday afternoon.

“Coupling with modest convergent monsoonal winds, scattered moderate to isolated convection is seen from 03N to 07N between 12W and 18W.”

Caribbean Online Weather (COW) reported late Monday that the impacts of the system are yet to be determined but the wave is likely to move westward in the coming days.

“No tropical cyclone development is anticipated as it is still early and conditions are not conducive for such,” COW said.

According to AccuWeather, a tropical wave is an area of low pressure in the atmosphere, typically situated north to south, moving westward from Africa into the Atlantic.

Senior Meteorologist at AccuWeather, Dan Kottlowski, said 85% of all tropical storm development can trace its origins to tropical waves. Tropical waves often move from east to west in the tropics, and they typically cause areas of showers and thunderstorms.

Meanwhile, the NHC announced on Monday that it is starting its daily Tropical Weather Outlook updates for the upcoming 2023 hurricane season.

“This product describes significant areas of disturbed weather and their potential for tropical cyclone formation during the next seven days, ” the NHC said. “The Tropical Weather Outlook is issued from May 15 through November 30 each year.”