Quiet Atlantic at peak as Invest 91L may become Gabrielle

The Atlantic basin has reached its climatological peak in early September but remains unusually quiet, even as forecasters disagree over whether a tropical disturbance in the eastern tropical Atlantic will develop into a named storm and possibly a hurricane. An area under close watch, designated Invest 91L, is centered near 35 degrees west and stretches roughly from 17 degrees north to 7 degrees north, more than 2,000 miles southwest of Florida, and is moving slowly west at about 5 to 10 mph.

Forecasters’ assessments of the system have diverged. The National Hurricane Center has at times listed the feature as an invest and said it is likely to develop into a tropical depression by the weekend, and AccuWeather forecasters predict it will become Tropical Storm Gabrielle by Sunday and strengthen into a hurricane by Tuesday. AccuWeather lead hurricane expert Alex DaSilva said the northeast Caribbean should closely monitor forecast updates and added, "We expect tropical storm Gabrielle to form this weekend to early next week and then strengthen to a Category 2 hurricane as it approaches the Lesser Antilles." AccuWeather projects peak winds of 100 to 120 mph and rainfall totals of...