A new tropical depression has formed in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Forecasters expect it will become Tropical Storm Katia later today, and strengthening to hurricane force by Thursday as it steams to the west-northwest in the mid-Atlantic.

Tropical Depression 12, as it's being called for now, was located this morning about 395 miles south southwest of the Cape Verde Islands - off West Africa - putting it in a class of storms known as Cape Verdean Hurricanes. They are the ones that tend to pose the greatest threat to the East Coast as we move into the peak of the hurricane season. The map above shows where the various forecast models take it in the next few days.

Here's AccuWeather.com's Henry Margusity on the storm's prospects.

TD12 is moving south of a high-pressure ridge in the mid-Atlantic that will keep it from curving north for a while longer. Forecasters are saying that, while the ridge will weaken some in the coming days, it is expected to restrengthen, "which should result in a continued west-northwest motion..."

Here is the latest advisory on the storm. Here is the forecast discussion. And here is the forecast storm track.