What is a potential tropical cyclone? Explaining the fairly new term

A fairly new term being used in the tropical meteorology community has left some confused as to what it actually means. The term "potential tropical cyclone" first started being issued by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in 2017.A potential tropical cyclone is an area of tropical low pressure that is at risk of developing into an organized storm system such as a tropical depression, tropical storm and, in some cases, a hurricane.Potential tropical cyclones are treated the same as tropical dep