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What’s an invest? Here’s what to know

Designation plays big role in tropical forecasting

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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 short for investigation. When an area of low pressure in the tropics is designated an Invest by the National Hurricane Center, computer forecasts on that specified entity can begin.

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The iconic spaghetti plots then become available to forecasters. This is the most important part when an area being watched is designated an Invest.

A number and a letter then follow the Invest.

The National Hurricane Center uses numbers from 90 to 99 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.

[FULL LIST: 2023 storm names]

Once all of the numbers are used up, the NHC will start again with 90.


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About the Author
Jonathan Kegges headshot

Jonathan Kegges joined the News 6 team in June 2019 and now covers weather on TV and all digital platforms.

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