ORLANDO, Fla. – You often hear terms like tropical depression, tropical storm, and hurricane during hurricane season, but “potential tropical cyclone” is a newer term you might not know.
The National Hurricane Center introduced it in 2017. A potential tropical cyclone allows the NHC to issue advisories for systems that aren’t yet tropical depressions or storms but could bring winds of 39 mph or more to land within 48 hours.
This gives them time to post tropical storm or hurricane watches and warnings earlier and keep people in affected areas informed.
If later it becomes a tropical depression, it would keep the same number and be called Tropical Depression (Number).
If it then develops winds of 39 mph or more, it would become a tropical storm and receive a name.
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