Wave watch

Tropical waves at 2 am Eastern Standard Time August 30, 2006 (Photo: NOAA)

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, August 30, 2006 - Two tropical waves in the eastern Atlantic are being monitored for development as long range models suggest that three or four storms could form in the next 14 days.

The models show the development taking place from strong tropical waves exiting the African coast from around September 4 however in each case the computer models take them all out into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and well away from any land mass.

The National Hurricane Centre in its August 30 morning update said that there were two waves at present in the eastern Atlantic - one about 600 miles southwest of the Cape Verde Islands and another about 1 050 miles east of the Northern Leeward Islands but in each case the shower activity remains limited and any development of these systems would be slow to occur.

Meantime Tropical Storm Ernesto is inland over the southern Florida peninsula where the main threat is expected to be from rainfall. The tropical storm which all but fell apart after an encounter with the mountains of Haiti and then Cuba has weakened from a previous category one hurricane to now a storm with sustained winds of 45 miles per hour. The system is expected to quickly weaken as it stays over land.