The fifth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season has formed, and meteorologists say it will not have any impacts on the Gulf Coast or the eastern United States.
The National Hurricane Center announced just before 4 p.m. CDT on Thursday that the depression situated east of the Leeward Islands has organized into Tropical Storm Ernesto. As of the 4 p.m. CDT update, Ernesto has maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour and is located about 590 miles east southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Tropical storm warnings are posted for Puerto Rico, the U. S. and British Virgin Islands, Saint Martin and St. Barthelemy, Sint Maarten, Guadeloupe, Vieques, Culebra, St. Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, Antigua and Barbuda, and Anguilla.
According to the NHC's forecast discussion, forecasters expect Ernesto to travel over the northern Leeward Islands overnight and near or over the Virgin Islands on Tuesday. After that, forecasters expect a deep-layer trough to push off the east coast of the United States, pushing the storm away from the U. S. and out to sea. The forecast track shows Ernesto reaching hurrricane status on Thursday and hitting Bermuda as either a Category 1 or a Category 2 hurricane on Saturday.
