Tropical system likely to strengthen as it moves toward the Caribbean

A tropical disturbance in the central Atlantic Ocean is showing signs of organization and could become a tropical depression in the coming days, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Forecasters said on Sunday that the broad area of low pressure, currently located several hundred miles southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands, is producing a large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms.

Conditions appear favorable for gradual development as the system moves quickly westward across the Atlantic, with a high chance of becoming a tropical cyclone within the next seven days. The disturbance could approach the Leeward Islands later next week.

If the system strengthens, it would be the next named storm of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season and would be called Jerry.

The formation comes just days after hurricanes Imelda and Humberto interacted in the Atlantic in what meteorologists describe as a Fujiwhara effect, a rare phenomenon in which two nearby rotating storms orbit around a common center.

The interaction altered both storms’ paths, pulling Imelda eastward away from a potential U.S. landfall and toward Bermuda, while weakening Humberto through strong wind shear.

Humberto briefly reached Category 5 strength with winds near 160 mph before weakening and dissipating after merging with a frontal boundary. Imelda peaked as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of about 100 mph, passing directly over or near Bermuda, where it caused widespread power outages, flooding, and structural damage.

While neither storm made landfall in the United States, their powerful swells generated dangerous surf, life-threatening rip currents, and significant coastal erosion along the East Coast. In North Carolina’s Outer Banks, at least nine homes collapsed into the ocean after days of pounding waves and prior beach erosion.

So far this season, the Atlantic has produced four hurricanes, including two Category 5 storms and one Category 4.