A low pressure system southwest of the Cape Verde Islands off the western coast of Africa could develop into the first tropical cyclone of the Atlantic hurricane season over the next two days, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Monday. The NHC said the system could become a tropical depression during the next day or two as it moves west at 10 to 15 miles per hour. There was a 30 to 50 percent chance that it could also become a tropical storm during the next 48 hours. The weather models, however, did not expect the system to threaten land over the next five days as it moves west-northwest over the Atlantic Ocean. If the system develops into a tropical storm with winds of 39 to 73 miles per hour, it would be named Ana, the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. By this time last year, there were already five named storms in the Atlantic basin.
