Hurricane Central » Local Hurricane News

Subscribe

Tropical Storm Ernesto forms off Caribbean

Tropical Storm Ernesto
  • Originally published August 3, 2012 at 12:04 a.m., updated August 3, 2012 at 12:09 a.m.

MIAMI (AP) - Forecasters say Tropical Storm Ernesto has formed in the Atlantic and is speeding toward a chain of small, popular vacation islands in the Caribbean Sea.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Thursday evening that the storm is headed west at 22 mph toward the Caribbean. Tropical storm warnings are in effect for the islands of Barbados, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Martinique, Guadeloupe and the Grenadines.

The storm's maximum sustained winds are at 50 mph.

Forecasters say the storm is expected to strengthen.

Its general track takes it toward Jamaica and could affect Cuba. Hurricane center meteorologist David Zelinsky says the storm has the potential to become a hurricane, but it's too soon to tell.

As of 10 p.m, the center of Tropical Storm Ernesto was near latitude 13.4 N, longitude 58.3 West.

Ernesto is moving west about 22 mph, and the general motion is expected to continue for the next 48 hours on the forecast track. The center of Ernesto should pass near Barbados and near the northern windward Islands by early Friday and emerge over the eastern Caribbean Sea by Friday afternoon.