Storm tracker: National Hurricane Center tracking 2 disturbances in Atlantic

The National Hurricane Center is tracking two disturbances in the Atlantic Ocean , the agency said in its latest advisory issued Wednesday.

In the western Atlantic, an area of low pressure located a few hundred miles southeast of Bermuda is producing a "small area of disorganized shower and thunderstorm activity," the NHC said. However, dry air and strong upper-level winds "are expected to limit additional development of this system during the next day or so."

The hurricane center now gives the disturbance a "near 0% chance" of development in the next seven days.

In the central Tropical Atlantic, the NHC said "an area of disorganized showers is associated with a tropical wave. Some slow development of this system is possible this weekend into early next week while it moves westward to west-northwestward at 10 to 15 mph," the hurricane center said in its 2:00 p.m. forecast update.

The hurricane center gives the system a 20% chance of becoming a tropical depression or named tropical storm within the next seven days. If it becomes a named storm, it would be called Francine if no other storms form first.

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Atlantic storm tracker

Busy September for Atlantic hurricane season activity?

Meteorologists say activity in the Atlantic will continue to ramp up as we enter September. The dry, dusty air from Africa that prevents storms from developing in the Atlantic is forecast to wane, AccuWeather hurricane expert Alex DaSilva told USA TODAY Wednesday.

"The dust will go away, and allow for the Atlantic to wake up," he said.

He added that water temperatures in many parts of the ocean are plenty warm for storms to develop and thrive.

Closer to home, DaSilva said water temperatures in Gulf of Mexico are at record levels. "If anything develops in the Gulf, it could take off very quickly. People have to pay attention: Storms can rapidly evolve and intensify rapidly."

Computer models also show more activity in the Atlantic in September: "Long-range models are becoming increasingly confident that the deep Atlantic tropics will soon spawn a system worth tracking, and there’s plenty of reason to believe that a busy September and/or October lie ahead," meteorologists Jeff Masters and Bob Henson wrote on their blog Yale Climate Connections .

A lull in the Atlantic hurricane season

So far this year, there have been more storms in the Pacific than the Atlantic , and that's a bit of a surprise, forecasters say. In addition, it's been eerily calm in the Atlantic over the past week or so as we approach what's traditionally the busiest time of the season.

"It is quiet out there," Colorado State University meteorologist Phil Klotzbach told USA TODAY on Monday. "I certainly wasn't expecting this when we put out our most recent seasonal forecast!"

Klotzbach said that if we look at named storms (tropical storms, subtropical storms, and hurricanes), the last time that we went from Aug. 21 to Sept. 2 with no named storm activity in the Atlantic was 1997.

Busy hurricane season in the Pacific

As portions of Hawaii's Big Island recover from the flooding rains and damaging winds of Tropical Storm Hone , residents across the state on Tuesday were gearing up for Tropical Storm Gilma or its remnants.

The storm has yet to trigger any land advisories as it churns in open waters, but forecasters have warned Gilma could unleash torrential rain, showers, heavy winds and produce dangerous rip currents later in the week. Residents across the state began preparing for the rare back-to-back storms.

On its current track, forecasters expect Gilma to begin swiping the state late this week and into the weekend as it pushes just north of the islands.

Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at Gdhauari@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Storm tracker: National Hurricane Center tracking 2 disturbances in Atlantic