The scales are about to tip with the Atlantic Hurricane season as a broad area of low pressure and thunderstorms moves off Africa and towards the United States.

Overnight Tropical Depression 2 weakened despite projections it would become the first tropical storm of the season.  However behind TD-2 lies a new low which America’s National Hurricane Centre says has a “high chance” of growing into a storm and then a hurricane.   If this next system does become a tropical storm it would be called Ana.

Significant development is expected before the weekend is out and the system may pose a threat to the eastern seaboard of the United States next weekend.

There are now three areas of concern in the Atlantic basin that forecasters are watching.   The season is one of the latest on record with only a handful of years recording storms so late in August.   However a late start to the season does not mean a quiet season ahead.  It was around this time in 1992 that Hurricane Andrew formed (August 17 was when the depression developed, hitting America about a week later).