Fort Lauderdale, Fla. ? Hurricane Dennis may have strutted off stage into soggy oblivion over land, but waiting in the wings, ready to make its debut, is another tropical depression that could grow in strength to become the fifth named storm in an already busy season.

The depression may gather enough might by Tuesday to become a tropical storm named Emily, and forecasters are predicting it will reach hurricane strength later this week.

The depression’s sustained winds of 35 mph are just shy of the 39-mph tropical storm designation. “The center is not well-defined enough” to reach tropical storm strength, Roberts added.

By Monday evening, the core was becoming more organized, hurricane specialist Stacy Stewart said. “It could easily be a tropical storm,” he said.

With the system more than 2,000 miles from South Florida, forecasters said they could not predict its path beyond the end of the week.