ORLANDO, Fla. – You may have heard the News 6 Pinpoint Weather team refer to an area in the Tropics as an Invest followed by a number and a letter.
“Invest” is simply a shortened version of the word “investigation.”
Recommended Videos
[TRENDING: Tropics Watch: Development likely for area heading toward Florida’s east coast | Volusia County woman claims $15M from winning Florida Lotto ticket | Become a News 6 Insider]
When an area of low pressure in the Tropics is designated as an Invest by the National Hurricane Center, computer forecasts on that specified system can begin.
The iconic spaghetti plots, computer models showing the projected path of the system, then become available.
A number and a letter then follow the Invest.
For example, a disturbance in the Caribbean has been deemed Invest 98L. The National Hurricane Center uses numbers from 90 to 99 in order to highlight areas of disturbed weather. The letter refers to the basin that entity is in. For the Atlantic, it’s the letter L. For the Pacific, it’s E. Once all of the numbers are used up, the NHC will start up again with 90.
Get the latest on the tropics by signing up for Jonathan Kegges’ Tropics Watch newsletter.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: