At the beginning of July, a tropical wave located southwest of the Cape Verde Islands began to organize. The system was moving rather slowly for its latitude over the next several days, allowing it to began circulating more easily than it otherwise would. Slowing development, however, was its interaction with the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). Even though this interaction generated a great deal of convection, the disturbance needed to separate from the ITCZ to initiate development. On July 4, the system began to veer toward the west-northwest and gain some latitude. The next day, it acquired a circular area of strong thunderstorms near its center and became Tropical Depression Four over the open tropical Atlantic.
Shortly afterward, however, the system began to feel the effects of a Saharan dry air encroaching from the north and east. On July 6, the depression continued to the west-northwest, but its thunderstorm activity slowly declined as it entrained dry air. In addition, the cyclone increased in forward speed, making it difficult for the circulation to persist. It did not persist long, in fact: the system lost a closed circulation and dissipated during the afternoon of July 7, far from any land.
The above image shows Tropical Depression Four over the open Atlantic.
The short-lived tropical depression fell victim to a large dry air mass quickly after formation.
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