Understanding the stages of hurricane development

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These are the terms you need to know this Atlantic Hurricane Season to understand the life cycle of a storm.

Tropical disturbance
This is simply an area of thunderstorms in the tropics that has “some” organization. It may be the result of a tropical wave. If this area requires additional monitoring, it may become an invest.

Invest
An invest is short for “investigation area.” This is an area where a weather disturbance is being watched by forecasters and computer models. In the Atlantic Ocean, the first investigation area will be INVEST 90L. This number counts up to 99L before repeating back to 90L.

Potential Tropical Cyclone
Special rules are in place whenever a tropical disturbance is expected to both strengthen and make landfall within 48 hours. If that area, which is likely also being watched as an invest, is expected to bring impacts of tropical storm or hurricane within the time period, it will adopt a new name: a potential tropical cyclone.

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