MIAMI -- Separate weather systems with heavy rains and wind formed into tropical depressions Saturday near the eastern Caribbean and far eastern Atlantic breeding grounds for hurricanes.
The National Hurricane Center said both systems grew out of areas of intense thunderstorms and cloudiness previously characterized as tropical waves, the least threatening of the summertime tropical weather formations.
If maximum sustained winds carried by the two depressions reach 39 mph, they will be designated tropical storms with the names Chris and Debby.
At 6 p.m. EDT, a depression in the far eastern Atlantic was about 150 miles southeast of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands, moving west at 15 to 20 mph.
The highest sustained winds were estimated to be near 30 mph, with higher gusts in squalls, although the depression was expected to strengthen during the next several days.
The depression formed in the breeding ground where other powerful East Coast hurricanes have started, said May Mayfield, a hurricane forecaster.
'It's just a depression now and we're not sure it's going to develop into a hurricane,' Mayfield said. 'But we don't see any reason for it not to continue to develop, at least into storm strength.'
The Caribbean depression had been a 'strong tropical wave' with intense storms that were expected to move across the Windward Islands into the eastern Caribbean, more than 1,300 miles southeast of Miami.
At 6 p.m. EDT, the center of this depression was located over the Grenadine Islands, moving west at 15 mph. Highest winds were estimated at near 30 mph and a gradual strengthening was expected over the next day.
The system is expected to gradually intensify, with the only impediment to development being its proximity to South America.
A strong tropical wave that parked itself over south Florida Friday night drenched some coastal communities overnight and into Saturday.
The wave, which had dumped up to 6 inches of rain in some parts of the state, was no longer discernable by Saturday afternoon, said Jesse Moore, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center.
'It has moved off for the most part and we're expecting conditions to improve Sunday all over the state,' he said.
