The National Hurricane Center began issuing advisories on Tropical Depression Fifteen late Monday afternoon, located 190 miles to the south-southwest of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Aside from high surf and strong rip currents along the Atlantic Coast, this system poses no direct threat to the United States and is expected to continue out to sea.
A Hurricane Hunter reconnaissance aircraft investigated the system late Monday afternoon and found maximum sustained wind speeds near 35 mph. Tropical Depression Fifteen is expected to remain away from shore and continue tracking northeast at roughly 12 mph over open waters. There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect with regards to Tropical Depression Fifteen.
Forecasters are also monitoring three other tropical waves that could develop over the next several days. Invest 99, located in the Caribbean has a high chance of becoming a tropical depression in the next few days as it continues westward and threatens parts of Central America and the Yucatán. Finally, there are two waves near the western coast of Africa that have a low chance of developing through the end of the week as they track westward over the open tropical Atlantic waters.
Tropical Depression Fifteen is forecast to become a tropical storm on Tuesday according to the National Hurricane Center, but any additional strengthening is unlikely Tuesday night and Wednesday. If the system does achieve tropical storm status it will be given the name "Nana". The earliest "n" named storm on record is Hurricane Nate which formed on September 5th, 2005.