That latter streak is about to be
"Only a slight increase in organization would result in the formation of a tropical depression later today," NOAA's National Hurricane Center says in an update on the storm released at 8 a.m. today.
The NHC gives the system a 90 percent chance of turning into a depression within 48 hours.
Conditions still aren't exactly primed for that depression to turn into a full-blown hurricane, though, as Dr. Jeff Masters runs down at the Weather Underground.
"While it seems that 96L has a reasonable shot at becoming a tropical storm... it also faces some obstacles. Foremost is a huge area of dry air and Saharan dust that extends across the tropical Atlantic just north of 96L’s path," Masters writes. "As the system grows in size and strength, it would become more likely to ingest some of the dry, dusty air, which would hinder shower and thunderstorm activity."
Wind shear and a developing low near the Bahamas could also affect the storm. Still, after such a quiet year, seeing the radar light up with a full-on tropical storm motoring generally toward South Florida might be just the wake-up call lackadaisical Miamians need to remember that Hurricane Season is a real thing.
Soon-to-be Danny isn't the only system NOAA's watching either; a potential tropical storm — with just a 20 percent chance of developing at the moment — is also blooming near Bermuda.