margie -- perhaps; we may know at 11pm whether or not the NHC calls it a tropical storm. It's a fine line between a tropical depression and a weak tropical storm, just like it is between a strong tropical storm and weak hurricane, but the development of these things through time definitely does have some markers on satellite.

Mike N -- if you are looking for forecasts of the tropical systems out there, using the "Sea Level Pressure" product is the easiest one to get started with. However, models don't always predict the development of tropical systems very well, nor do they always capture weak tropical systems very well. For developing storms and trying to forecast development, 850mb vorticity products are usually the best to look at. Tropical systems, before developing, generally have their strongest signals just above the surface, making 850mb vorticity a pretty good tool to look at. Models tend to have that signal better than they do weak areas of low pressure.