The 14th tropical depression of the Atlantic Hurricane Season formed Monday afternoon about 2,390 miles southeast of the Virgin Islands. Forecaster Jack Beven of the National Hurricane Center said the depression is moving to the west at near 15 miles per hour and top winds are estimated at 35 miles per hour with further strengthening expected.
Beven estimated the center of the newly formed depression near 11.5 degrees north latitude, 31.3 degrees west longitude. The depression could become Tropical Storm Joyce by late Monday night or Tuesday morning, he said.
The depression, centered about 800 miles southeast of Hurricane Isaac, continued to become better organized Monday and was upgraded at 5 p.m. Beven said computer forecast models suggest little or no interaction with Hurricane Isaac, and the general motion thus is expected to be westward over the next three days.
"At least one forecast model suggests that the depression could intensify more rapidly than currently forecast," Beven noted.
Advisories are being issued every six hours by the National Hurricane Center on Tropical Depression 14.