Caribbean Gale Warning: A tighter gradient between the Atlantic Ridge and a Colombian Low will lead to gale-force trade winds off Colombia, peaking Friday night into early Saturday morning with seas ranging from 12 to 14 ft.
Tropical Waves: A tropical wave in the far eastern Atlantic near 34W and another in the eastern Caribbean near 69W are producing scattered moderate convection. A third wave near 82W in the western Caribbean is also showing scattered moderate convection.
Monsoon Trough/ITCZ: The monsoon trough remains inland in Africa while the ITCZ extends from near Guinea to 33W and then westward, causing scattered moderate to isolated strong convection along its path.
Gulf of America: A stationary front from Florida to Louisiana is causing scattered showers and storms. High pressure is dominating much of the Gulf with light to moderate winds. Fresh to locally strong winds are expected off the northwestern Yucatan Peninsula nightly.
Caribbean Sea: Fresh to strong trade winds and seas up to 12 ft dominate the south-central basin. Gale-force winds are expected off Colombia Friday night. The Gulf of Honduras will experience fresh to strong winds nightly through Saturday night.
Atlantic Ocean: A stationary front off the Carolinas coast is causing showers and storms. A broad Atlantic Ridge supports light to gentle winds across much of the basin, with some fresh winds near northeastern Florida. A ridge will dominate the western Atlantic through the weekend.
June 25, 2026, at 8:15 AM EDTThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has forecasted an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season for 2025.
Named Storms: 8 to 14
Hurricanes: 3 to 6
Major Hurricanes (Category 3 or higher): 1 to 3
Accumulate Cyclone Energy (ACE): 95% to 180% of the median
Primary Influencing Factor: Developing El Niño conditions expected to suppress Atlantic storm activity
This forecast indicates:
Despite the lower forecast, NOAA emphasizes that it only takes one hurricane making landfall to create a major disaster, and residents in hurricane-prone areas should still prepare as usual for the season.
Hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30Key: Active Past Future
*Press/click the storm name to view additional detailsDespite fewer total storms than forecasted, the 2025 season produced several extremely intense hurricanes, including three Category 5 systems, making it one of the more powerful Atlantic seasons in recent history.
2020 - 30 named storms, 14 hurricanes
Hurricane Katrina (2005) - $125 billion
Harvey (2017) - $125 billion
Hurricane Patricia (2015) - 215 mph (345 km/h)
Hurricane Allen (1980) - 190 mph (305 km/h)
The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is a 1 to 5 rating system that classifies hurricanes based on their sustained wind speeds and the potential damage they can cause. It helps communicate the intensity of hurricanes and the likely impacts on structures and environments. The scale does not account for factors like storm surge or rainfall, focusing only on wind speeds.
Watching the Tropics was originally built as a personal storm tracker with only the most important charts for the Atlantic hurricane basin. Numerous sites are available for tracking hurricanes, but Watching the Tropics minimizes extra "noise" and shows only what you need.
Designed in Florida by
"Watching the tropics" refers to monitoring tropical weather systems, such as tropical depressions, tropical storms, and hurricanes, in regions close to the equator. Meteorologists and weather enthusiasts often use this phrase during hurricane season to indicate that they're keeping an eye on developing weather systems that could potentially strengthen and impact areas like the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean.
Websites, news outlets, or weather services also use "Tropics Watch" to keep the public informed about the latest developments in the tropics, especially during peak hurricane season.
An "invest" refers to an area of disturbed weather that meteorologists are investigating for potential tropical development. The term "invest" is short for "investigation area."
When an area is designated as an invest, it is given a number (between 90 and 99) followed by the letter "L" for systems in the North Atlantic or "E" for systems in the Eastern Pacific. For example, "Invest 91L" would refer to the 91st area of interest in the Atlantic basin for that season.
The designation of an invest allows meteorologists to focus their resources on a specific area, utilize specialized forecasting models, and issue updates as needed.
A tropical depression is a type of tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of less than 39 mph (34 knots or 63 km/h).
Key characteristics:
It's the first stage of development in the tropical cyclone classification used by the National Hurricane Center, followed by tropical storm and then hurricane.
