Slow development possible with tropical wave headed towards Caribbean

SAN JUAN — A large tropical wave centered several hundred miles east of the Lesser Antilles is producing limited shower activity due to environmental dry air.

Conditions are forecast to become a little more conducive for development over the warmer waters of the southwestern Atlantic Ocean, and a tropical depression could form late this week while the system is in the vicinity of the Greater Antilles or the Bahamas.

Interests in the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas, and the southeastern United States should monitor the progress of this system.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…near 0 percent.
* Formation chance through 7 days…medium…60 percent.

John F. McCarthy is a veteran journalist in the Caribbean, writing from the "Decision Space" where survival meets the surreal. His reporting steel was tempered by a lineage of legendary editors and broadcasters, including Ed Wynn Brant (The Bomb), Owen Eschenroder (Ann Arbor News), Lynelle Emanuel (BVI Beacon), and Charles Thanas (WSVI-TV). Alongside longtime colleague Kenneth C. "Casey" Clark, McCarthy has navigated the front lines of the territory’s history—from the 1997 volcanic "snow" to every major hurricane since Hugo. Known for leaning out of doorless helicopters to capture the "money shot," McCarthy now edits the V.I. Free Press, providing the essential link between the island's colonial past and its SpaceX future.