The meteorological services of Barbados, Trinidad and St Vincent remain on high alert for an approaching tropical wave that brews east of the Caribbean today (October 4), even though it has shown no further signs of organising.

Farther east, off the coast of West Africa, the broad area of low pressure west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands is anticipated to become ‘Julia’ in the coming days as its development chance greatly increased in the last 24 hours.

According to the US-based National Hurricane Center (NHC), the disturbance, now designated Invest92L, is likely to become a tropical depression in “the next day or so” as it moves northwesterly over the open Atlantic.

Its formation chances over the next two-to-five days are “high” at 80 per cent respectively.

In the meantime, the tropical wave hundreds of miles east of the Windward Islands was observed to have increased shower and thunderstorm activity but no “signs of significant organisation”, NHC sleuths advised.

Currently designated Invest91L, the tropical wave continues a steady westward trajectory at 24 kilometres/hour, as NHC projections suggest it could begin impacting sections of the Windward Islands as early as tonight or Wednesday morning.

“Some slow development is possible while the wave continues westward, and a tropical depression could form by late this week or this weekend over the central or western Caribbean Sea,” the Miami-headquartered hurricane watchdog said.

“Interests in the Windward Islands, the ABC Islands, and the northern coast of Venezuela should monitor the progress of this system. An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft is scheduled to investigate this system this afternoon, if necessary,” the NHC added in its 8:00 am Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) tropical weather outlook.

The likelihood of further development between the next two and five days is “low” and “medium” respectively, at 20 and 40 per cent.