AccuWeather.com meteorologists continue to monitor a tropical wave over the Eastern Atlantic several hundred miles west of the African coastline.

This wave is producing an area of showers and thunderstorms; however, it is tracking into a hostile atmosphere over the south-central Atlantic.

A large area of dry air ahead of this feature will inhibit much in the way of organization for at least the next day or two.

However, according to AccuWeather.com Tropical Expert Dan Kottlowski, “This feature could start to wrap up just east of the Lesser Antilles on Friday and become what appears to be a storm or perhaps hurricane near Hispaniola and Puerto Rico by around Tuesday of next week.”

Once this system gets near the Caribbean, it could take one of two paths. The first path would be westward though the Caribbean and potentially into the Gulf of Mexico by late next week. This would be a rather hostile path for significant strengthening as it would have to interact with the islands and land masses throughout the Caribbean before moving into the Gulf.

This satellite image courtesy the National Hurricane Center shows a tropical wave several hundred miles off the coast of Africa moving westward.

Another possibility is that the system takes a northerly track tracking north of the Lesser Antilles and close to the Bahamas before perhaps paralleling the East Coast. Whether it would make landfall or just curve out to sea remains to be seen.

One thing is for sure is that the Atlantic Basin could experience its first hurricane of the season next week.

Residents across the Caribbean, the Gulf Coast and the Eastern Seaboard should pay close attention to this tropical wave and how it develops the next few days.

Impacts from this system could begin as early as the weekend in the Lesser Antilles.