"It’s definitely something we are watching very closely," said Tim Craig, lead forecaster at the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. "We’ll get a better feel for it in another 24 to 48 hours. You just can’t say it is going to hit Hawai'i. Too many things could happen and it is too far away."

A tropical depression is described by the weather service as a mass of thunderstorms with a cyclonic wind circulation and winds between 23 mph and 39 mph.

Ten-E is not even in the Central Pacific Hurricane Center area of responsibility, which is north of the equator from 140 degrees west longitude to 180 degrees, but the depression is predicted to move south of the Big Island sometime Monday.

Ten-E is east/southeast of Hilo, moving west/northwest at about 14 mph, according to Craig.

"At this point in time people should just be aware there is a system out there with the potential for development and that it may come close to us," he said.