The first potentially significant tropical system of the season is gathering strength in the distant Atlantic and could develop into the year’s first hurricane this week.

Likely to become a tropical depression Monday, the system is an immense distance from land — 2,200 miles from the outermost Caribbean islands — and poses no immediate danger to anyone.

Still, the disturbance is the first noteworthy system to be born this year in what forecasters call the “deep tropics,” where conditions are growing ripe for development and storms have plenty of time to strengthen before they reach land.

Similar systems are lining up behind it, ready to roll off Africa and into the Atlantic, suggesting that a worrisome few weeks are ahead for residents of the hurricane zone.

“It’s a reminder that this is the time of year for things to form out there, and if you’re not ready for hurricane season, now is the time to get ready,” said Eric Blake, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in West Miami-Dade County.

Last week, government scientists predicted that the season — which started June 1 and ends Nov. 30 — soon would heat up and become unusually active.

Long-range computerized models suggest that, as the week progresses, the first of these systems will strengthen and march across the Atlantic toward the Caribbean islands, though such forecasts are subject to wide margins of error.

...SPECIAL FEATURE...

A 1006 MB LOW...ASSOCIATED WITH A TROPICAL WAVE ALONG 26W/27W S
OF 18N...IS LOCATED SW OF THE CAPE VERDE ISLANDS NEAR 12N MOVING
W 15 KT. THE LAST VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWED A LOW LEVEL
CIRCULATION PARTIALLY EXPOSED TO THE E OF THE CONVECTION.
SCATTERED MODERATE/STRONG CONVECTION IS FROM 10N-14N BETWEEN
29W-33W.