We are one week into August and right on cue, the tropics are starting to get more exciting. Don't get too excited yet...right now we're just monitoring a tropical wave expected to come off the west coast of Africa through this weekend. The National Hurricane Center is giving this tropical wave a 30% chance for tropical development over the next 5 days. This zone of moisture will likely move to the west-northwest through the upcoming workweek, towards the central Atlantic Ocean (highlighted in yellow). Long range forecast models don't show any signs just yet that this will go any farther then the central/western tropical Atlantic waters before it is absorbed by a different system later next week. However, the First to Know Weather Team will keep a close eye on any changes and let you know right away what's going on. The rest of the Atlantic basin and Gulf of Mexico are expected to remain quiet over the next week.